Call For Papers: BLACK SEX Edited by Jafari Sinclaire Allen and Jason King AMONG INTELLECTUALS WORKING ON BLACK CULTURAL PRACTICE, THERE HAS BEEN A TENDENCY TO TALK ABOUT SEXUALITY WITHOUT ACTUALLY TALKING ABOUT SEX . . . This critical anthology seeks to intervene in the field by interrogating how racialized sex (as a set of physicalized, 'performed' activities) is negotiatied in both texts of representation and everyday life. Orbiting around questions of intercourse, foreplay and afterplay, nudity, fetishism, voyeurism, bodily limits, interracialism, abstincence, virginity, fertility, reproduction, procreation, virility and impotence, this anthology aims to map out a vast array of representations of sexual performances and erotic acts. These representational texts may include (but are in no way limited to) films like "Looking for Langston" (1989) and "Jason's Lyric" (1993); musical performances of Ma Rainey, Marvin Gaye, Millie Jackson, Prince, L.L. Cool J, Blowfly, Foxy Brown, 2 Live Crew, and Lauryn Hill; porn videos and magazines; performance texts of stand-up comedians from Moms Mabley to Richard Pryor; the popular literature of Terry McMillan to James Earl Hardy; and the performance work of Pamela Sneed, Lyle Ashton Harris, Bill T. Jones, and many others. While mapping this array that may include portrayals of sex that call forth ideas about compassion, romance, loving, healing, nurturing, spirituality, intimacy and interiority, the project of BLACK SEX will access a more fugitive archive than representations found in the market of 'mass mediated texts'. To talk about sex in black culture(s), then, is also to talk about the everyday lived experience of the sexual black body. This bodily experience includes (but is in no way limited to) issues of: joy, pleasure and "The Good Life"; mobility, travel and "The Tropics"; hedonisms and (international) sex trade; disease; purity, contamination; AIDS; passing and discretion; public sex, cybersex and chat rooms; group sex and orgies; slavery; violence, kink, freaky-deaky, smut, sleaze, snuff, s/m and other bondages; addiction; body management and healing; childhood, adolescent and elder sex; sexual gymnastics and positioning. How has (the) 'sex' in black culture contributed to popular perceptions about the power and possibilities of the black body at the end of this Millenium? Theorizing the sexual imagination of black popular culture and everyday life can provide an interesting angle from which we might begin to address larger issues of importance to black communities, including longings for Freedom and acts of survival. BLACK SEX encourages submissions that address the way racialized sex (spanning the continuum of sexualities) is connected to notions of class, ethics, work and labor, ephemera, melancholy, mourning and loss, formal politics, migration and mobility, and technology. What are the rewards, drawbacks limits and controversies of posing questions around 'black sex'? We seek a range of creative, critical, and descriptive interventions which reflect the experiences of black people(s) throughout the African Diaspora. We welcome fiction, poetry, ficto-critical writing, historical writing, public policy writing and photography, among many styles. We especially welcome writing from those involved in the sex and entertainment industries, community based and public health organizations, as well as traditional academic institutions. This anthology is under consideration for publication by New York University Press, Sexual Cultures series. Please submit abstract (1-2 paragraphs) or completed manuscripts (no longer than 30 pages) by MAY 15th, 1999 to: Jason King Department of Performance Studies New York University 721 Broadway 6th Floor New York, NY USA 10003 or Jafari Sinclaire Allen Columbia University, Department of Anthropology, 452 Schermerhorn Hall 1200 Amsterdam Avenue New York, NY 10027- MC 5523 For information or inquiries: please contact Jason King (212) 229-7461 or [EMAIL PROTECTED]; or Jafari Allen at [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use."
