Signifyin(g), Sanctifyin' & Slam Dunking

A Reader in African American Expressive Culture

• Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
• Pages: 467
• ISBN_10: 1558491821
  ISBN_13: 9781558491823
  
• Language: en
• Categories: Biography & Autobiography / Cultural, Ethnic & Regional / General , Language Arts & Disciplines / Readers , Social Science / Ethnic Studies / American / African American & Black Studies , Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social ,

Description:... Observers of American society have long noted the distinctive contribution of African Americans to the nation's cultural life. We find references to African American music and dance, black forms of oral expression, even a black style of playing basketball. But what do such terms really mean? Is it legitimate to talk about a distinct African American aesthetic, or is it simply a vestige of an outmoded racial essentialism? What makes a particular form of cultural expression black, other than the fact that some African Americans may practice it?