"Re-imagining Passing: A Feminist Project"

In this paper, Janine Bradbury shares work from her forthcoming book, Contemporary African American Women Writers and Passing, which explores the ways in which writers such as Gloria Naylor and Toni Morrison reimagine the passing-for-white genre from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Dr Janine Bradbury is the Acting Subject Director for American Studies, a Senior Lecturer in Literature, and a School Learning and Teaching Lead at York St John University. Her research explores race, gender, and sexuality in contemporary African American literature and American popular culture. She is particularly interested in the performative and writerly processes involved in constructing, pluralising, queering, and destabilising notions of blackness, whiteness, masculinity, and femininity. She is currently preparing her first book, Contemporary African American Women Writers and Passing (under contract with Palgrave Macmillan, New York). Her work on drag and pro-wrestling, African American comedy, and the singer, model, and performer Grace Jones has been published in edited collections by Palgrave and Bloomsbury.  

 

This is a free event open to all students, staff, and friends of the University of York. A wine reception & refreshments will follow.