Expressively Black: The Cultural Basis of Ethnic Identity

by Geneva Gay

Expressively Black aims to illustrate and illuminate the expressive quality of the life and culture of Afro-Americans. This new volume is a collection of essays exploring the different aspects of the Black cultural experience, and includes chapters on black style, kinship and family ties, communication, leadership, music, religion, soul-mate, art, theatre, physical expressiveness, and cultural continuation. It explicates the principle that Black culture is, fundamentally, and oral and aural culture that can best be seen, felt, understood, and appreciated through telling experiential encounters. This text is designed and written to immerse the reader into the inner dynamics of different dimensions of the culture. Simultaneously, it provides some structural frameworks and conceptual principles for comprehending these dimensions within Black culture as a whole.

394 pages, Hardcover

First published October 5, 1987