Selected Publications

Books

The Coupling Convention: Sex, Text, and Tradition in Black Women's Fiction (Oxford University Press, 1993)

Skin Trade (Harvard University Press, 1996)

Articles

“The Occult of True Black Womanhood,” reprinted in The Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, an electronic database produced by ProQuest Information and Learning, in conjunction with the New York Public Library and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (forthcoming 2006)

“Anxious History and the Rise of Black Feminist Literary Studies,” invited for The Cambridge Companion to Feminist Literary Theory, ed. Ellen Rooney (UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006)

Review of ReWriting White: Race, Class, and Cultural Capital in Nineteenth-Century America, by Todd Vogel, American Historical Review (February 2006): 193-194

“The Mark of Zora: Reading Between the Lines of Legend and Legacy, The Scholar and Feminist on Line 3.2 (March 2005), ed. Monica Miller www.barnard.edu/sfonline/ghost/hurston/index.htm

“Multicultural Barbie and the Merchandising of Difference,” reprinted in Jacqueline Bobo, ed., The Black Studies Reader (Routledge, 2004): 265-260.

“The Sterile Cuckoo Racha: Debugging Lone Star,” invited for Chicana Feminisms: Disruptions in Dialogue, eds. Najera-Ramirez, Klan, Zavella, and Hurtado (Duke UP, 2003): 349-353.

“Looking for Zora,” cover review essay, New York Times Book Review, 5 January 2003: 12-13.

“Black Barbie and the Deep Play of Difference,” reprinted in Amelia Jones, ed., The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader (Routlege, 2003): 337-348.

“The Occult of True Black Womanhood,” reprinted in Claudia Stoke and Michael Elliott, eds., American Literary Studies: A Methodological Reader (NYU Press, 2003): 211-239.

“The Occult of True Black Womanhood,” reprinted (abridged) in Barbara Ryan, ed., Identity Politics in the Women’s Movement New York (NYU Press, 2001): 163-177.

“Dyes and Dolls: Multicultural Barbie and the Merchandising in Difference, reprinted in Shaping Discourses: Reading for University Writers (Notre Dame University Press, 2001)

“The Color of Class: Classifying Race in the Popular Imagination”: Social Identities (Fall 2001): 409-419.

“The Occult of True Womanhood,” reprinted in Kum Kum Bhavnani, ed., Feminism and Race (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2000): 233-260.

“Toy Theory: Black Barbie and the Deep Play of Difference,” reprinted from Skin Trade, in Juliet Schor and Douglas Holt, eds., The Consumer Society Reader (New Press, 2000): 259-278.

“Tribute to Barbara Christian,” Meridians I (Autumn 2000)

The Occult of True Black Womanhood, reprinted in Barbara Ryan, ed., Identity Politics in The Women’s Movement (NYU Press, 2000)

“Phallus(ies) of Interpretation: Toward Engendering the Black Critical ‘I,” reprinted in Winston Napier, ed., African American Literary Theory: A Reader (NYU Press, 2000)

“Where in the World Is William Wells Brown? Jefferson, Hemings, and the DNA of American Literary History,” invited for a special issue of American Literary History (Fall 2000): 443-462.

“Dyes and Dolls: Multicultural Barbie and the Merchandising of Difference,” reprinted in Zinn, Hondagneu, and Messner, eds., Gender Through the Prism of Difference (Allyn & Bacon, 2000)

“Barbie in Black and White,” adapted from a chapter in Skin Trade reprinted in Yona Zeldis-McDonough, ed., The Barbie Chronicles: The Living Doll Turns Forty (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999): 127-142.

“Black Barbie and the Deep Play of Difference,” excerpted from Skin Trade, in Morag Shiach, ed., Feminism and Cultural Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999): 106-132,

“Tuntemani Shirley Temple,” reprint and translation of “The Shirley Temple of My Familiar,” in Lahikuva (January 1999): 10-26

“Domesticity and the Demon Mother: A Review Essay of Sorts,” Burning Down the House: Reclycling Domesticity, ed. Rosemary George (Westview/HarperCollins, 1998)

“The Shirley Temple of My Familiar,” premier essay, Transition 73 (June 1998): 10-32.

“The Unbearable Darkness of Being: ‘Fresh’ Thoughts on Race, Sex, and the Simpsons,” Rebirth of a Nation’Hood, eds. Toni Morrison and Claudia Brodsky Lacour (Pantheon, 1997): 293-338.

“Work,” The Oxford Companion to African American Literature, eds. William L. Andrews, Trudier Harris, and Frances Smith Foster (1997) 789-791.

“The Occult of True Black Womanhood,” reprinted in The Second Signs Reader (University of Chicago Press, 1996): 70-108.

“The Occult of True Black Womanhood,” premier essay reprinted in Female Subjects in Black and White: Race, Psychoanalysis, Feminism, eds. Barbara Christian and Elizabeth Abel (University of California Press, 1996): 21-56.

“Overview,” Introduction to the African-American Literature Section, The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the U.S., eds. Cathy N. Davidson and Linda Wagner-Martin (1995): 23-29.

“Postcoloniality and Afrocentricity: Discourse and Dat Course,” The Black Columbiad: Defining Moments in African-American Literature and Culture, eds. Werner Sollors and Maria Diedrich (Harvard University Press, 1994): 28-41.

“The Occult of True Black Womanhood: Critical Demeanor and Black Feminist Studies,” premier essay, Signs 19:3 (Spring 1994): 591-629.

“Dyes and Dolls,” reprinted in The British-American Reader, edited by Gita Rajan (Longman's UK, fall 1994)

“Dyes and Dolls,” reprinted in Black Women Scholars/Work and Struggle: Selected Papers from the 1994 Black Women in the Academy Conference, ed. Robin Kilson (University of Massachusetts Press, 1995)

“Dyes and Dolls: Multicultural Barbie and the Merchandising of Difference,” differences 6:1 (Spring 1994): 46-68.

“Phallus(ies) of Interpretation: Toward Engendering the Black Critical ‘I.’” Invited essay. Callaloo 16 (Summer 1993): 559-573.

“Blues Notes on Black Sexuality” anthologized in American Sexual Politics: Sex, Gender, and Race Since the Civil War, ed. J. Fout (Chicago, 1993): 193-219.

“Blues Notes on Black Sexuality: Sex and the Texts of Jessie Fauset and Nella Larsen,” Journal of the History of Sexuality 3 (Jan. 1993): 418-443.

“’Who Reads Here?’ Back Talking with Houston Baker.” Invited review essay. Novel: A Forum on Fiction (Fall 1992)

“Conference Call,” an exchange between Barbara Christian, Ann duCille, Sharon Marcus, Elaine Marks, Nancy K. Miller, Sylvia Schafer, and Joan Scott, differences 2 (Fall 1990): 52-108.

“’Othered’ Matters: Reconceptualizing Dominance and Difference in the History of Sexuality in America,” Journal of the History of Sexuality 1 (Summer 1990): 102-127.

“’The Intricate Fabric of Feeling’: Romance and Resistance in Their Eyes Were Watching God,” Zora Neale Hurston Forum (Spring 1990)

Poetry

Bridgewater Review, 1986 (three poems), 1986 Folio (four poems) Heartblow/Black Veils, 1976 (poem), Michael Harper, ed. Panache, 1975 (poetic vignette), David Lenson, ed.
For Neruda/For Chile, 1975 (poem), Walter Lowenfels, ed.
The Iowa Review, 1975 (poem), Michael Harper, ed.
American Poetry Review, 1975 (poems), Leonard Adame, ed.
New Letters, 1974 (poems), David Rey, ed.
Presence Africaine #89, 1974 (poem), Alioune Diop, ed.
Keeping the Faith: Writings by Contemporary Black
Women, 1974 (poems), Patricia Exum, ed.
I, That Am Ever Stranger, Poems on Women's Experiences, 1974

Additional Scholarly Work In Progress

The Black Feminist Reader (an edited anthology of black feminist criticism), under contract Oxford University Press

Inconspicuous Consumption: Labor, Leisure, and Black Middle-Class Culture, under contract with Oxford University Press

Technical Color: Blackness and the Popular Imagination

Selected Conference Papers And Invited Lectures

“Incidental Incidents: Captiv(e)ative Audiences and the Much-Told ‘Tale of Truth,” invited conference paper, The Legacies of Slavery and Sisterhood: The Life and Work of Harriet Jacobs, Pace University (October 2006)

“‘Periracism’: A Critique of Tolerance and Civility,” invited lecture, Northwestern University (May 2006)

“Improvisation and the Scholarly Impulse, invited lecture, University of Maryland, College Park (March 2006)

“Anxious History and the Rise of Black Feminist Literary Studies,” invited lecture, UC San Diego (May 2005)

“Black Feminist Literary Studies,” invited paper, Roots/Routes of Black Studies Symposium, Stanford University (May 2005)

“The Mark of Zora: Rereading Between the Lines of Legacy and Legend,” invited seminar talk, Yale University (November 2004)

“Anxious History and the Rise of Black Feminist Literary Studies” Keynote Address, “Black Feminisms” Conference, CUNY Graduate Center (March 2004)

“The Mark of Zora: Hurston and the Rise and Fall of Feminist Studies,” Plenary Address Barnard Center for Research on Women (October 2003)

Chair, “Looking into the Crystal Ball: Black Studies and the Challenges of the Future,” Closing Plenary “The Future of Black Studies” Conference, sponsored by Princeton University, Schomburg Library, CUNY Graduate Center (February 2003)

“Revisiting The Coupling Convention,” Yale University (April 2003)

“Langston Hughes at Play,” Yale University (February 2002)

“O Pioneers! Vision/Revision and Black Women Scholars at Work,” Princeton University (December 2001)

Co-Keynote Speaker (with Jeanine Basinger) AAUW Book-Author Luncheon, Middletown, CT, (May 2000)

“Periracism and the Geographics of Identity: A Critique of Civility and Tolerance,” Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana (October 1999)

“The Color of Class: Classifying Race in Literature and Popular Culture,” Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA (March 1999)

“The Color of Class,” Emory University, Atlanta, GA (January 1999)

“Where in the World Is William Wells Brown?” MLA, San Francisco (December 1998)

“Boricua Barbie and the Shirley Temple of Doom: Dolls, Dream Girls, and Manifest Destiny,” American Studies Association Annual Meeting, Seattle (November 1998)

“The Color of Class: Colorizing The Philadelphia Story,” Aesthetics & Difference Conference, University of California, Riverside (October 1998)

“I’m White and You’re Not: Identity Graphics,” Keynote Address, “Outing Whiteness: Interrogating Re-presentations of Race and Racism,” Claremont Colleges (February 1998)

“‘Periracism’ and the Geographics of Identity,” Ward-Phillips Lecture Series University of Notre Dame (January 1998)

“Shirley Temple: Race, Sex, and the Filmic Child,” San Diego State University (Nov. 1997)

“A Time to Kill Shirley Temple: Paterfamiality and Popular Culture,” UCSB (October 1997)

“The Shirley Temple of My Familiar,” Duke University (October 1997)

“The Shirley Temple of My Familiar,” University of California, Santa Barbara (April 1997)

“Race, Gender, and Citizenship in the Films of Shirley Temple,” UCLA (March 1997)

“Affirmative Action Barbie,” University of California, San Diego (February 1997)

“Racing Domesticity,” Trinity College, Hartford, CT (May 1996)

“The Bawdy Language of Barbie,” Smith College (March 1996)

“White Nationalism and the Contract on America” American Studies Association Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA (November 1995)

“The Rebirth of a Nation: Color, Country, and the Case of O.J. Simpson” Center for the Humanities, Wesleyan University (October 1995)

“The Blacker the Juice: Race and the Case of O.J. Simpson,” Trinity College (Sept. 1995)

“’Ethnic Barbie’ and the Problem of Pluralism,” Fairfield University (June 1995)

“Toy Theory: Blackface Barbie and the Deep Play of Difference” Center for Advanced Feminist Studies, University of Minnesota (May 1995)

“Bawdy Language: Beauty and the Beast of Barbie,” Pomona College (April 1995)

“Sex, Text, and the Single Black(?) Barbie” Spelman College, Atlanta, GA (October 1994)

“Black(?) Barbie and the Merchandising of Difference” Cole Distinguished Lecture, Wheaton College (October 1994)

“Black Women Writing Race and Gender in the 1890s,” Stanford University (May 1994)

“‘There Is Confusion’: Reclassifying Jessie Fauset,”

“Dyes and Dolls: Black Barbie and the Merchandising of Difference,” UVA (April 1994)

“A) She’s Adorable, B) She’s Black? Barbie and the Myth of Multiculturalism” Kenyon College (February 1994)

“Dyes and Dolls: The Sexual/Textual Politics of Black? Barbie,” Black Women in the Academy: Defending Our Name, 1894-1994, MIT (January 1994)

“Canon Fodder: Rape and Resistance in ‘Non-Traditional’ Texts of the 1940s,” Modern Language Association Conference, Toronto, Canada (December 1993)

“The Crisis of Black Women Intellectuals or As the World Turns 2000” Center for African American Studies, Wesleyan University (December 1993)

“Discourse and Dat Course: Postcoloniality and Afrocentricity,” ASA, Boston (Nov. 1993)

“A) She’s Adorable, B) She’s Black? Barbie and the Myth of Multiculturalism,” College of Letters, Wesleyan University (October 1993)

“Multiculturalism, Primitivism, and Postmodernism,” Roundtable Seminar, Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women, Brown University (March 1993)

“Inconspicuous Consumption: A Literary Theory of the Black Leisure Class” Works-in-Progress Colloquium Series, Princeton University (March 1993)

“Self as Sacred Text: Primitivism and the Production of the Racial/Ethnic Other” American Studies Association Conference, Costa Mesa, California (November 1992)

“Beyond Men’s Error: Black Women Dreaming America at the Turn of the Century,” Society for Critical Exchange, M/MLA, St. Louis, MO (November 1992)

“Country Place(s) and Female Spaces: Petry, Hurston, West, and the Willful Wife,” Ann Petry Symposium, Trinity College, Hartford, CT (November 1992)

“The Skin Trade: Afrocentricity and Postcoloniality,” Mainstream(s) and Margins Conference University of Massachusetts, Amherst (April 1992)