Harvey Young, Author
An interdisciplinary study bridging art history, media study, and performance studies, Phenomenal Blackness spotlights the ongoing desire to possess and, in turn, to know blackness not by interacting with actual black folk but by engaging with their representation. Employing performance studies methodology and the methods of visual or screen cultures study, it examines the thrall for the image and explores how these virtual engagements granted a familiarity with blackness that has informed and shaped racial discourse over the past century.
An interdisciplinary study bridging art history, media study, and performance studies, Phenomenal Blackness spotlights the ongoing desire to possess and, in turn, to know blackness not by interacting with actual black folk but by engaging with their representation. Employing performance studies methodology and the methods of visual or screen cultures study, it examines the thrall for the image and explores how these virtual engagements granted a familiarity with blackness that has informed and shaped racial discourse over the past century.