Title
The Amalgamation Waltz: Race, Performance, and the Ruses of Memory,Used
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Does racial hybridity offer a future beyond racial difference?At a time when the idea of a postracial society has entered public discourse, The Amalgamation Waltz investigates the practices that conjoined blackness and whiteness in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Scrutinizing widely diverse textsarchival, musical, visual, and theatricalTavia Nyongo traces the genealogy of racial hybridity, analyzing how key events in the nineteenth century spawned a debate about interracialism that lives on today.Deeply interested in how discussions of racial hybridity have portrayed the hybrid as the recurring hope for a distant raceless future, Nyongo is concerned with the ways this discourse deploys the figure of the racial hybrid as an alibi for a nationalism that reinvents the racist logics it claims to have broken with. As Nyongo demonstrates, the rise of a pervasive image of racially anomalous bodies responded to the appearance of an independent black public sphere and organized politics of black uplift. This newfound mobility was apprehended in the political imaginary as a bodily and sexual scandal, and the resultant amalgamation discourse, he argues, must be recognized as one of the earliest and most enduring national dialogues on sex and sexuality.Nyongo tracks the emergence of the concept of the racial hybrid as an ideological modernization of the older concept of the mongrel and shows how this revision brought racethinking in line with new understandings of sex and gender, providing a racial context for the shift toward modern heterosexuality, the discourse on which postracial metaphors so frequently rely. A timely rebuttal to our contemporary fascination with racial hybridity, The Amalgamation Waltz questions the vision of a national future without racial difference or conflict.
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- Q: What is the main theme of 'The Amalgamation Waltz'? A: 'The Amalgamation Waltz' explores the concept of racial hybridity and its implications for understanding race and identity, particularly in the context of a postracial society.
- Q: Who is the author of 'The Amalgamation Waltz'? A: The book is authored by Tavia Nyong’o, a scholar interested in race, performance, and cultural studies.
- Q: What types of texts does Nyong’o analyze in the book? A: Nyong’o examines a diverse range of texts, including archival documents, musical works, visual art, and theatrical performances, to trace the genealogy of racial hybridity.
- Q: How does 'The Amalgamation Waltz' address the concept of postracial society? A: The book critiques the idea of a postracial society by investigating how discussions of racial hybridity often serve to perpetuate racial differences and conflicts.
- Q: What historical context does the book provide regarding racial hybridity? A: Nyong’o contextualizes racial hybridity within the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, illustrating how key events shaped ongoing debates about interracialism.
- Q: Is 'The Amalgamation Waltz' suitable for academic study? A: Yes, the book is suitable for academic study, particularly in fields related to race, cultural studies, and performance studies.
- Q: What is the publication date of 'The Amalgamation Waltz'? A: 'The Amalgamation Waltz' was published on May 14, 2009.
- Q: How many pages does 'The Amalgamation Waltz' contain? A: 'The Amalgamation Waltz' has a total of 248 pages.
- Q: What format is 'The Amalgamation Waltz' available in? A: The book is available in paperback format.
- Q: What key issues does Nyong’o address in relation to nationalism? A: Nyong’o discusses how the discourse on racial hybridity can serve as an alibi for nationalism, which may inadvertently reinforce racist logics while claiming to break from them.