Lawrie Balfour (Book order)

Lawrie Balfour Book order

This author delves into the intricate intersections of race, gender, literature, and democracy within the American context. Her work probes deeply into political theory and American studies, examining how these elements intertwine throughout American society. She focuses on pivotal figures and literary works to uncover profound meanings of freedom and justice. Her scholarship addresses contemporary issues such as reparations for slavery and the legacies of discrimination, exploring how these concerns resonate within literary narratives.

Toni Morrison

240 pages
9 hours of reading

5.0(5)Add rating

When Toni Morrison declares that she “can't wait for the ultimate liberation theory to imagine its practice and do its work,” she raises an issue at the heart of modern political How should we understand freedom? And what does freedom mean in the shadow of racial slavery and colonialism? In this study of Toni Morrison's writing, Lawrie Balfour explores Morrison's reflections on the idea of freedom in her novels and nonfiction. While Morrison's literary achievements are widely celebrated, her political thought has yet to receive the same attention. Balfour shows how Morrison's writing illuminates the meanings of freedom and unfreedom in a democratic society founded on both the defense of liberty and the right to enslavement.Morrison's fiction and meditations on the power of language challenge wishful notions of color-blindness and complaints that it is time to move beyond thinking and talking about race. Her attentiveness to the experiences of people “no one inquired of”--especially her interest in the lives of black women and girls--reorients democratic study toward racial slavery, settler colonialism, and the ongoing processes of theft and domination instituted by these practices. Morrison's writings kindle new forms of freedom-seeking that do not rely on the subjugation of others.