Black Popular Culture

Discussions in Contemporary Culture #8

A Village Voice Best Book of the Year

“This amalgam of enraged opinion, more than any other book I know, captures the spirit of black intellectual debate today. For those new to the debate, this collection introduces the major voices of African American social commentary; for those enmeshed in it already, this comprehensive anthology is an invaluable prism of contestation, testament, theory, critique, and cultural consensus.” —Patricia J. Williams, author of The Alchemy of Race and Rights

With contributions by:

  • Houston A. Baker Jr.
  • Jacqueline Bobo
  • Hazel V. Carby
  • Angela Y. Davis
  • Manthia Diawara
  • Coco Fusco
  • Henry Louis Gates Jr.
  • Paul Gilroy
  • Ada Gay Griffin
  • Stuart Hall
  • Thomas Allen Harris
  • bell hooks
  • Arthur Jafa
  • John Jeffries
  • Isaac Julien
  • Lisa Kennedy
  • Julianne Malveaux
  • Manning Marable
  • Kofi Natambu
  • Marlon T. Riggs
  • Trica Rose
  • Valerie Smith
  • Greg Tate
  • Michele Wallace
  • Cornel West
  • Sherley Anne Williams
  • Judith Wilson
  • Discussions in Contemporary Culture is an award-winning series co-published with the Dia Center for the Arts in New York City. These volumes offer rich and timely discourses on a broad range of cultural issues and critical theory. The collection covers topics from urban planning to popular culture and literature, and continually attracts a wide and dedicated readership.

    Praise

    “A stellar cast reflecting upon the definitions and diversities of black popular culture, the differences within the black community, and between the Americas and Britain; also upon the problems of a *stellar* cast reflecting upon *popular* culture. The range is impressive and the discussions are real debates, between generations, genders, and political styles.”
    —Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, University Professor, Columbia University, and author of In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics
    “These essays come, smoking, straight out of a unique sense of inquiry—today’s best black minds talking about the future of everyday culture.”
    —Andrew Ross, professor of social and cultural analysis, New York University, and author of No Respect: Intellectuals and Popular Culture

    Goodreads Reviews