Enacting Others

Smith Cherise Smith

Description

The artists Adrian Piper, Eleanor Antin, Anna Deavere Smith, and Nikki S. Lee have all crossed racial, ethnic, gender, and class boundaries in works that they have conceived and performed. Cherise Smith analyzes their complex engagements with issues of identity through close readings of a significant performance, or series of performances, by each artist. She examines Piper's public embodiment of the Mythic Being, a working-class black man, during the early 1970s; Antin's full-time existence as the fictitious black ballerina Eleanora Antinova for several weeks in 1981; and Smith's shifting among more than twenty characters of different ages and racial, ethnic, gender, and class backgrounds in Twilight: Los Angeles. She also considers Lee's performances of membership in cultural groups-including swing dancers, hip-hop devotees, skateboarders, drag queens, and yuppies-in her Projects series (1997-2001). The author historicizes the politics of identity by exploring each performance in relation to the discourses prevalent in the United States at the time of its development. She is attentive to how the artists manipulated clothing, mannerisms, voice, and other signs to negotiate their assumed identities. Cherise Smith argues that by drawing on conventions such as passing, blackface, minstrelsy, cross-dressing, and drag, they highlighted the constructedness and fluidity of identity and identifications. Enacting Others provides a provocative account of how race informs contemporary art and feminist performance practices.

Sujets

• USA
• History of art
• États-Unis

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 07 mars 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822393085
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

Extrait

Enacting Others

ÉNacTINg OThERŝ

Politics of Identity in Eleanor Antin, Nikki S. Lee, Adrian Piper, and Anna Deavere Smith

ChERIŝE SmITh

dU ke U ni vers i t y P re s s DuRham & LoNoN 2011

© 2011 DuKE ÛNIVERŝITY pREŝŝ All RIghTŝ REŝERVE pRINTE IN ThE ÛNITE STaTEŝ of AmERIca oN acI-fREE aER ♾

DEŝIgNE bY JENNIfER HIll YEŝET IN ChaaRRal pRo bY ŝENg ïNfoRmaTIoN SYŝTEmŝ, ïNc.

LIbRaRY of CoNgREŝŝ CaTalogINg-IN-publIcaTIoN DaTa aEaR oN ThE laŝT RINTE agE of ThIŝ booK.

DuKE ÛNIVERŝITY pREŝŝ gREaTlY aREcIaTEŝ ThE ŝuoRT of ThE ÛNIVERŝITY of Exaŝ, AuŝTIN, IN ThE ublIcaTIoN of ThIŝ booK.

DuKE ÛNIVERŝITY pREŝŝ gRaTEfullY acKNowlEgEŝ a ÛNIVERŝITY Co-oERaTIVE SocIETY SubVENTIoN GRaNT awaRE bY ThE ÛNIVERŝITY of Exaŝ, AuŝTIN, whIch RoVIE fuNŝ TowaR ThE RoucTIoN of ThIŝ booK.

For G and S and W and b

xIII

CoNTENTŝ

Ix  pREfacE AcKNowlEgmENTŝ

1

ïNTRoucTIoN

1 27 polITIcŝ of MY poŝITIoN” “E ĀdriĀn PiPer ĀndMYTîç Béîg

2 79  E OThER “OThER” eeĀnôr Āntin Ānd te PerFôrĀnçe ôF BĀçkness

135

3 “OThER-ORIENTE” pERfoRmaNcE ĀnnĀ deĀvere sit Ānd T wîîgT: Oŝ Āgééŝ

4 189  IKKI S. LEE’ŝProjectsaN ThE EacKagINg of ThE polITIcŝ of ïENTITY

233

277

CoNcluŝIoN

243  oTEŝ IblIogRahY 293  ïNEx

pREfacE

E IEaŝ ElINEaTE IN ThIŝ booK gREw ouT of INŝIghTŝ gaINE fRom ThE couRŝE “CYboRgŝ aN SYNThETIc HumaNŝ” TaughT bY ScoTT uKaTmaN IN ThE fall of 1999 aT STaNfoR ÛNIVER- ŝITY. ïN ThE couRŝE of mY uTIEŝ aŝ a TEachINg aŝŝIŝTaNT, ï camE To REalIzE ThaT maNY ŝcIENcE îcTIoN TExTŝ aRE ThINlY VEIlE allEgoRIEŝ ThaT mEITaTE oN RacIal IERENcE aN IEN- TITY. HumaN chaRacTERŝ aRE ŝuRRogaTEŝ foR whITEŝ: ThEY aN ThE îcTIoNal ŝocIETIEŝ IN whIch ThEY aRE EmbEE aRE E- IcTE aŝ NoRmaTIVE aN ŝoughT afTER. Y coNTRaŝT, NoN- humaN chaRacTERŝ aRE ŝubŝTITuTEŝ foR blacKŝ: ThEY aRE oR- TRaYE aŝ oŝŝEŝŝINg KEY IERENcEŝ, ŝuch aŝ ŝuERhumaN ŝTRENgTh oR ŝubhumaN INTEllIgENcE, whIch NoRmalIzE ThEIR owERlEŝŝ aN EbaŝE oŝITIoN IN ThE îcTIoNal ŝocIal EcK- INg oRER. EŝE NaRRaTIVEŝ TYIcallY TaKE oNE of Two couRŝEŝ: ThEY aVocaTE foR INTEgRaTIoN aN TolERaNcE bY ENcouRag- INg VIEwERŝ (who aRE alwaYŝ REŝumE To bE whITE) To ŝEE ThE “humaNITY” IN NoNhumaN chaRacTERŝ, oR ThEY RomoTE ThE maINTENaNcE of ŝTRIcT bouNaRIEŝ bETwEEN humaNŝ aN NoNhumaNŝ IN oRER To REŝERVE ThE EŝTablIŝhE hIERaRchY.  ï waŝ EagER To alY ThaT fRamEwoRK To IlEY ScoTT’ŝblade RunneraN 1991)—ThE EVER-oulaR îlm baŝE oN (1982 phIllI . DIcK’ŝ NoVElDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) aN To whIch coNŝIERablE cRITIcal ENERgY haŝ bEEN