Everyday Use: Tradition, Adaptation, and Appropriation in/of African American Culture

Authors

Cynthia Dobbs, University of the PacificFollow

Document Type

Conference Presentation

Department

English

Conference Title

International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability

Location

East-West Center, Oahu, HI

Conference Dates

February 25-27, 2005

Date of Presentation

2-25-2005

Abstract

How are certain African American cultural and social values retained in and through cultural artifacts — in this case, in quilts, music, and literature? Examining Alice Walker's still-revolutionary short stories "Everyday Use" and "Nineteen Fifty-Five," an excerpt from Ralph Ellison's classic "Invisible Man," and John Coltrane's parodic and transcendent "My Favorite Things," this paper explores how three great African American artists approach the questions of African American culture. What defines that culture? How does it change over time? Who owns it? And how does it survive and thrive amidst a U.S. American society and culture that is increasingly multicultural yet also commercially rapacious and stubbornly racist?

Comments

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Recommended Citation

Dobbs, C. (2005). Everyday Use: Tradition, Adaptation, and Appropriation in/of African American Culture. Paper presented at International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability in East-West Center, Oahu, HI.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cop-facpres/658