A01=Walton M. Muyumba
aesthetics
african american
amiri baraka
Author_Walton M. Muyumba
belonging
black
blackness
Category=AVLP
Category=JBCC
Category=JBSL
civil rights
democracy
diversity
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_music
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
freedom
gender
history
improvisation
inclusion
individual
james baldwin
jazz
le roi jones
literature
masculinity
men
music
nonfiction
novels
poetry
politics
pragmatism
race
racism
ralph ellison
violence
Product details
- ISBN 9780226554242
- Weight: 312g
- Dimensions: 14 x 21mm
- Publication Date: 01 Jul 2009
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Though often thought of as rivals, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and Amiri Baraka shared a range of interests, especially a passion for music. Jazz, in particular, was a decisive influence on their thinking, and, as "The Shadow and the Act" reveals, they drew on their insights into the creative process of improvisation to analyze race and politics in the civil rights era. In this inspired study Walton M. Muyumba situates these thinkers as a jazz trio, demonstrating how Ellison, Baraka, and Baldwin's individual works form a series of calls and responses with each other. Muyumba connects their writings on jazz to the philosophical tradition of pragmatism, particularly its support for more freedom for individuals and more democratic societies. He examines the way they responded to and elaborated on that lineage, showing how they significantly broadened it by addressing the African American experience, especially its aesthetics. Ultimately, Muyumba contends, the trio enacted pragmatist principles by effectively communicating the social and political benefits of African Americans fully entering society, thereby compelling America to move closer to its democratic ideals.
Walton M. Muyumba is associate professor of English at the University of North Texas.
