Venus in the Dark: Blackness and Beauty in Popular Culture

Description

Western culture has long been fascinated by black women, but a history of enslavement and colonial conquest has variously labeled black women's bodies as "exotic" and "grotesque." In this remarkable cultural history of black female beauty, Janell Hobson explores the enduring figure of the "Hottentot Venus." In 1810, Saartjie Baartman was taken from South Africa to Europe, where she was put on display at circuses, salons, and museums and universities as the "Hottentot Venus." The subsequent legacy of representations of black women's sexuality-from Josephine Baker to Serena Williams to hip-hop and dancehall videos-continues to refer back to this persistent icon. This book analyzes the history of critical and artistic responses to this iconography by black women in contemporary photography, film, literature, music, and dance. Cover ......Page 1 Venus in the Dark......Page 2 Title Page ......Page 4 Copyright Page ......Page 5 Table of Contents ......Page 6 List of Illustrations ......Page 8 Acknowledgments ......Page 10 1. Re-Presenting the Black Female Body: An Introduction ......Page 14 2. Venus and the Hottentot: The Emergence of an Icon ......Page 32 3. The Hottentot Venus Revisited: The Politics of Reclamation ......Page 68 4. The “Batty” Politic: Toward an Aesthetic of the Black Female Body ......Page 100 5. Mirror, Mirror: Framing the Black Female Body for Still and Motion Pictures ......Page 126 Epilogue ......Page 156 Notes ......Page 162 Bibliography ......Page 174 Index ......Page 184