{"product_id":"smooth-operating-and-other-social-acts","title":"Smooth Operating and Other Social Acts","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn engaging homage to African American resilience and resourcefulness in US literature and culture.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThrough a cultural study of writings about slavery in the United States, \u003ci\u003eSmooth Operating and Other Social Acts\u003c\/i\u003e uncovers a mode of behavior adopted by African Americans for relief from the brutality of black bondage. Roland Leander Williams grants that African Americans have been beaten, but he guarantees that they have not been broken. While he acknowledges that they have been demeaned, he assures that they have not been diminished. Williams confesses that African Americans have been done harm, but he confirms that they have not become disheartened. Close readings of classic slave narratives, along with some neo-slave narratives-including \u003ci\u003eThe Conjure Woman\u003c\/i\u003e (1899), \u003ci\u003eKindred\u003c\/i\u003e (1979), \u003ci\u003eDessa Rose\u003c\/i\u003e (1986), and \u003ci\u003eThe Good Lord Bird\u003c\/i\u003e (2013)-furnish proof that African Americans have preserved their dignity and elevated their status through ingenious applications of improvisation. \u003ci\u003eSmooth Operating and Other Social Acts\u003c\/i\u003e establishes as well that a dim view of African Americans, propagated by black bondage, bears a resemblance to sexual discrimination, which prompts female targets of its gaze to practice dissembling.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"State University of New York Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54410266542424,"sku":"9781438489469","price":33.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9781438489469.jpg?v=1777895153","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/smooth-operating-and-other-social-acts","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}