White Negroes: When Cornrows Were in Vogue . and Other Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation

Lauren Michele Jackson teaches in the Departments of English and African American Studies at Northwestern University. Her writing about race and culture has appeared in The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Essence, the New Republic, Teen Vogue, Rolling Stone, and New York magazine, among many other places. She lives in Chicago. Connect with her at laurjackson.com and on Twitter (@proseb4bros).

Exposes the new generation of whiteness thriving at the expense and borrowed ingenuity of black people-and explores how this intensifies racial inequality.American culture loves blackness. From music and fashion to activism and language, black culture constantly achieves worldwide influence. Yet, when it comes to who is allowed to thrive from black hipness, the pioneers are usually left behind as black aesthetics are converted into mainstream success-and white profit.Weaving together narrative, scholarship, and critique, Lauren Michele Jackson reveals why cultural appropriation-something that's become embedded in our daily lives-deserves serious attention. It is a blueprint for taking wealth and power, and ultimately exacerbates the economic, political, and social inequity that persists in America. She unravels the racial contradictions lurking behind American culture as we know it-from shapeshifting celebrities and memes gone viral to brazen poets, loveable potheads, and faulty political leaders.An audacious debut, White Negroes brilliantly summons a re-interrogation of Norman Mailer's infamous 1957 essay of a similar name. It also introduces a bold new voice in Jackson. Piercing, curious, and bursting with pop cultural touchstones, White Negroes is a dispatch in awe of black creativity everywhere and an urgent call for our thoughtful consumption.

INTRODUCTIONAppropriation and American MythmakingPART I: SOUND AND BODYCHAPTER 1The Pop Star: Swinging and SingingCHAPTER 2The Cover Girl: Blackness, GroundbreakingPART II: ART AND LANGUAGECHAPTER 3The Artist: A Dead Boy Made ArtCHAPTER 4The Hipster: The New White NegroPART III: TECHNOLOGYCHAPTER 5The Meme: Kermit the Frog Meets Nina SimoneCHAPTER 6The Viral Star: Opposite from StardomPART IV: ECONOMY AND POLITICSCHAPTER 7The Chef: America’s Whiteface MammyCHAPTER 8The Entrepreneur: A Bit FreeCHAPTER 9The Activist: The Time for AngerCONCLUSIONBusiness as UsualAcknowledgmentsNotes