Barnard College Professor’s Article on Blackface Appears in The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 18

Contact: Petra Tuomi, Public Affairs, 212-854-6906
Alina Hamza, Public Affairs, 212-854-2037

New York, NY July 18, 2002-- The July 16, 2002 edition of The Chronicle Of Higher Education features, in the Magazines & Journals Summaries section, Barnard College Assistant Professor of History and Theory, Shawn Garrett’s article on the injustice towards African-Americans in minstrel shows. "Return of the Repressed" is a chapter in progress from a book she is writing about the theater of Suzan-Lori Parks.

Garrett uses a number of experimental works to explain the current revival of minstrelsy in American art. She explains that minstrelsy is the "portrayal of exaggerated black stereotypes by both black and white artists and performers." Each of the experimental works she utilizes, she says, fit into three categories: those who aim to celebrate the stereotype, or those who aim to parody, satirize, or exorcise the stereotype, or those whose aim is ambiguous. The works that contain ambiguity, Garrett states, "Ask ‘What is black? What is white? What is between them? What would one be without the other?’"

Garrett is afraid that the exaggerated stereotypes of African-Americans could, and has, led to the use of minstrelsy in today’s art as a shock factor, not as a truthful telling of history. "Blackface in experimental art and theater may be the final frontier of shock, or, by now, the ultimate cliché of postmodern play," says Garrett.