Publication Date

Summer 2018

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Dale Rigby (Director), Dr. Rebbecca Brown, Dr. Cheryl Hopson

Degree Program

Department of English

Degree Type

Master of Arts

Abstract

The problem addressed in this thesis is cultivating an answer to the question: what creates or comprises the sum total of my Blackness as a modern American woman living in our current political climate? I primarily use a read/call and response methodology, responding to both lived and hypothetical experiences that explore or demonstrate the ways that identity, race, gender, sexuality, regionality, religion, and the historical thumbprint intersect. The results are this collection of poems that is at times mythological, at times irreverent, both abstract and formal as it seeks to fit these pieces into a singular mosaic. The conclusion drawn at the end of this thesis is that Black women's lives and stories have intrinsic value, interpretation, and are deserving of further exploration in both bibliotheraphy, mainstream, and academic writing.

Disciplines

African American Studies | Creative Writing | English Language and Literature | Poetry

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