In the butcher shop of subjectivity: Autobiographical works from the Black Liberation Movement, 1970--1987
Item
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Title
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In the butcher shop of subjectivity: Autobiographical works from the Black Liberation Movement, 1970--1987
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:14fc43bb4167:10232
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identifier
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10439
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Creator
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Scott, Ramsey,
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Contributor
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Robert Reid-Pharr
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Date
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2009
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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American literature | Biographies | Black studies | American studies | african american literature | autobiography | black liberation movement | contemporary american literature | language poetry | prison
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Abstract
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Through an examination of autobiographical works by imprisoned members of the Black Liberation Movement who were targeted by illegal government counterintelligence campaigns, "In the Butcher Shop of Subjectivity" argues for a realignment of the field of contemporary American literature. This realignment must incorporate the massive expansion of the American prison regime, perhaps the most nation's most critical historical development of the past fifty years. In exploring the qualities that the autobiographies examined herein share with developments in the field of critical theory and avant-garde poetry, this study suggests that critiques of the prison regime offered in Black Liberationist works provide crucial analyses otherwise missing from contemporaneous and more well-known works of American writing. In particular, the political claims made by the "language regime" in American letters---language-based schools of critical theory and language-focused movements within experimental American poetry and prose---are examined as prototypes for a culture of ignorance that has aided and abetted the widespread imprisonment of America's most vulnerable citizens.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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English
