Russell's in-depth analysis of the work of James Weldon Johnson, Audre Lorde, Michelle Cliff, Earl Lovelace, and John Edgar Wideman is framed in light of the West African aesthetic principle of "ashe," a quality ascribed to art that transcends the prescribed boundaries of form. "Ashe" is linked to the characteristics of improvisation and flexibility that are central to jazz and other art forms. Russell argues that African Atlantic writers self-consciously and self-reflexively manipulate dominant forms that prescribe a certain trajectory of, for example, enlightenment, civilization, or progress. She connects this seemingly postmodern meta-analysis to much older West African philosophy and its African Atlantic iterations, which she calls "the Legba Principle."
Russell's in-depth analysis of the work of James Weldon Johnson, Audre Lorde, Michelle Cliff, Earl Lovelace, and John Edgar Wideman is framed in light of the West African aesthetic principle of "ashe," a quality ascribed to art that transcends the prescribed boundaries of form. "Ashe" is linked to the characteristics of improvisation and flexibility that are central to jazz and other art forms. Russell argues that African Atlantic writers self-consciously and self-reflexively manipulate dominant forms that prescribe a certain trajectory of, for example, enlightenment, civilization, or progress. She connects this seemingly postmodern meta-analysis to much older West African philosophy and its African Atlantic iterations, which she calls "the Legba Principle."
Imprint | University of Georgia Press |
Country of origin | United States |
Release date | 2009 |
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Authors | Heather Russell |
Format | Electronic book text |
Pages | 202 |
ISBN-13 | 978-1-282-55343-9 |
Barcode | 9781282553439 |
Categories | |
LSN | 1-282-55343-7 |