Looking for Leroy : Illegible Black Masculinities / Mark Anthony Neal.
2013
E185.86 .N394 2013eb
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Details
Title
Looking for Leroy : Illegible Black Masculinities / Mark Anthony Neal.
Author
Neal, Mark Anthony, author.
ISBN
9780814789407
Published
New York, NY : : New York University Press, [2013]
Copyright
©2013
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource
Other Standard Identifiers
10.18574/nyu/9780814789407.001.0001 doi
Call Number
E185.86 .N394 2013eb
Dewey Decimal Classification
305.38/896073
Summary
Mark Anthony Neal's Looking for Leroy is an engaging and provocative analysis of the complex ways in which black masculinity has been read and misread through contemporary American popular culture. Neal argues that black men and boys are bound, in profound ways, to and by their legibility. The most "legible" black male bodies are often rendered as criminal, bodies in need of policing and containment. Ironically, Neal argues, this sort of legibility brings welcome relief to white America, providing easily identifiable images of black men in an era defined by shifts in racial, sexual, and gendered identities. Neal highlights the radical potential of rendering legible black male bodies-those bodies that are all too real for us-as illegible, while simultaneously rendering illegible black male bodies-those versions of black masculinity that we can't believe are real-as legible. In examining figures such as hip-hop entrepreneur and artist Jay-Z, R&B Svengali R. Kelly, the late vocalist Luther Vandross, and characters from the hit HBO series The Wire, among others, Neal demonstrates how distinct representations of black masculinity can break the links in the public imagination that create antagonism toward black men. Looking for Leroy features close readings of contemporary black masculinity and popular culture, highlighting both the complexity and accessibility of black men and boys through visual and sonic cues within American culture, media, and public policy. By rendering legible the illegible, Neal maps the range of identifications and anxieties that have marked the performance and reception of post-Civil Rights era African American masculinity.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 18. Sep 2023)
Series
Postmillennial Pop ; ; 4
Available in Other Form
print 9780814758359
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Record Appears in
Online Resources > Ebooks
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Table of Contents
Frontmatter
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 A Foot Deep in the Culture
2 "My Passport Says Shawn"
3 The Block Is Hot
4 R. Kelly's Closet
5 Fear of a Queer Soul Man
Postscript
Notes
Index
About the Author
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 A Foot Deep in the Culture
2 "My Passport Says Shawn"
3 The Block Is Hot
4 R. Kelly's Closet
5 Fear of a Queer Soul Man
Postscript
Notes
Index
About the Author