Rude: Contemporary Black Canadian Cultural Criticism

by Rinaldo Walcott

Rude is an anthology of critical writing on Black Canadian culture. The anthology is meant to convey the idea of a burgeoning response to Black Canadian cultural expression and what it means both for various Black communities and the Canadian nation. The anthology departs from uncritical celebration to critically engage with Black Canadian expressive cultures. The essayists do more than celebrate Canadian they attempt to cast a complex analysis of its limits and its possibilities through the examination of Black lives, cultures and events in Canada and abroad. Rude fills a void in the Canadian cultural landscape, where Black responses to the nation are always framed in terms of anti-racism. It attempts to open debate among and across Black communities in Canada, to uncover the complexities of Black life and Black living. Rude moves beyond the sentimental and the romantic to usher in the era of a forceful Black public cultural criticism, unlike anything that's come before it. Contributors include Richard Almonte, Kass Baning, David Chariandy, Warren Crichlow, Awad Ibrahim, Joy Mannette, Leslie Sanders, David Sealy, Gamal Abdel Shehid, Reunka Sooknanan, and Rinaldo Walcott.

220 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

About the author

Rinaldo Walcott is a Professor in the Women and Gender Studies Institute, University of Toronto, author of Queer Returns: Essays on Multiculturalism, Diaspora, and Black Studies, and coauthor of BlackLife: Post-BLM and the Struggle for Freedom.