Body as Evidence: Mediating Race, Globalizing Gender.

AuthorAllen, Ryan
PositionBook review

BODY AS EVIDENCE: MEDIATING RACE, GLOBALIZING GENDER

Janell Hobson

(New York: CUNY Press, 2011), 208 pages.

The swearing-in of Barack Obama as the first African-American President of the United States on 20 January 2009 was supposed to usher in a new era in U.S. and world history, signaling a new "post-racial" world where people of all colors enjoyed a level playing ground. Hobson disputes this notion of a post-racial world and claims that the larger, majority white population ignores the actual issues faced by other racial communities. According to Hobson, the black, female body has been used to fit what she describes as a false social narrative.

Hobson creates an overarching narrative of black feminist thought, weaving cultural examples with themes in popular culture. This includes the racial typecasting of the popular television show, "American Idol;" the cross-gender mimicking meme stemming from Beyonce's "Single Ladies" video; and the "primitive" portrayal of the "other" (minority, non-white) in science fiction films such as The Matrix and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Connecting feminist thought globally, Hobson attempts to show a disconnect between...

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