Series | Studi e ricerche
Edited book | Postcolonial Publics: Art and Citizen Media in Europe
Chapter | ‘Following’ Teju Cole’s ‘Black Portraitures’
‘Following’ Teju Cole’s ‘Black Portraitures’
On Zigzagging Between (Digital) Literature, Photography, Art History, Music and Much More…
Abstract
In this chapter, I will explore ‘black portraitures’ in Teju Cole’s writings, photos, and art history lessons, while ‘following’ his journeying – geographic, literary, photographic, digital – in both his photo essays and criticism Known and Strange Things (2016), Blind Spot (2016), in his novel Open City (2011) and his latest essay collection Black Paper (2021). I intend to study his poetics, his aesthetics and his ethical stance, particularly in relation to his re-formulation of postcolonial paradigms. Intersecting trajectories with works by Caryl Phillips (The European Tribe, 1987) and by Johny Pitts (Afropean. Notes from Black Europe, 2019) will also be considered.
Submitted: July 13, 2022 | Accepted: Oct. 21, 2022 | Published Jan. 26, 2023 | Language: en
Keywords Black intellectuals • Black portraitures • New media • Postcolonial theory • Teju Cole
Copyright © 2023 Carmen Concilio. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-677-0/016
