Crystal Anderson, an associate professor of English, has published an article on the post-soul aesthetic, a post-civil rights cultural movement, and the cultural fusion of African-American and Japanese cultures in the work of iona rozeal brown, an African American artist. She also participated in the issue’s roundtable on teaching the post-soul.
The article and roundtable appear in the recently published Winter 2007 issue of African American Review, the official publication of the Division on Black American Literature and Culture of the Modern Language Association.
Anderson’s article, “The Afro-Asiatic Floating World: Post-Soul Implications of the Art of iona rozeal brown,” argues that brown’s work reflects the ambivalence within the post-soul aesthetic’s call for crossing cultural boundaries. On one hand, her paintings utilize elements of both African American and Japanese cultures, challenging attempts to define black culture solely in positive terms. On the other hand, brown’s work appeals to a multiraciality defined solely in black and white terms, which produces a distorted view of other cultures.
The roundtable, “These–Are–the ‘Breaks’: A Roundtable Discussion on Teaching the Post-Soul Aesthetic,” explores teaching art and literature with a post-civil rights movement aesthetic. Participants discuss the challenges and benefits of teaching contemporary African American culture in a variety of educational settings.