Signifying without Specifying: Racial Discourse in the Age of Obama

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Signifying without Specifying RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY, AND LONDON Signifying without Specifying Racial Discourse in the Age of Obama S T E P H A N I E L I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Li, Stephanie, 1977– Signifying without specifying : racial discourse in the age of Obama / Stephanie Li. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–0–8135–5143–2 (alk. paper) — ISBN 978–0–8135–5144–9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. American literature—21st century—History and criticism. 2. Race in literature. 3. Post-racialism—United States. 4. Politics and literature—United States—History—21st century. 5. United States—Race relations. I. Title. PS231.R33L5 2011 810.9⬘3552—dc22 2011001102 A British Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the British Library. Frontispiece: Kara Walker, From Notes on Hope, 2008, 2009. Cut paper and collage, one from a set of 7: 8.25 ⫻ 10.25 in. (21 ⫻ 26 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York. This volume incorporates parts of my article “Performing Intimacy Using ‘Race-Specific, Race-Free Language’: Black Private Letters in the Public Sphere,” from South Atlantic Quarterly 109, no. 2, 339–356. Copyright 2010, Duke University Press. Reprinted by permission of the publisher. Copyright © 2012 by Stephanie Li All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers University Press, 100 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854–8099. The only exception to this prohibition is “fair use” as defined by U.S. copyright law. Visit our Web site: http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu Manufactured in the United States of America For Dinah ...