Manifestations of Masculine Magnificence: Divinity in Africana Life, Lyrics, and Literature

Teresa N. Washington

Feb 2014 · Oya's Tornado

About this ebook

Manifestations of Masculine Magnificence: Divinity in Africana Life, Lyrics, and Literature is a remarkable study and the first of its kind. Teresa N. Washington eschews popular culture’s pimp myths and thug sagas and traces the Africana man’s power, creativity, and consciousness to his inherent divinity.

Manifestations of Masculine Magnificence takes the reader to the source of power with an analysis of African Divinities and divine technologies. Washington explores the permanence and proliferation of African Gods from oppressive plantations to the empowering proclamations of such leaders as W. D. Fard, Marcus Garvey, Father Divine, and Allah, the Father. Washington analyzes the summonses to and from the Gods that resonate in the music of such artists as Erykah Badu, The RZA, Sun Ra, X Clan, and Rakim. Using literary analysis as a prism to display  the diversity of Africana divinity, Washington reveals the literature of such writers as August Wilson, Walter Mosley, Toni Morrison, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and Ishmael Reed to be three-way mirrors that eternally reflect and project the Gods, their myriad powers, and their weighty responsibilities.

Manifestations of Masculine Magnificence will prove indispensable to independent scholars as well as scholars of Comparative Literature, Hip Hop Studies, Gender Studies, Africana Studies, Literary Criticism, and Religious Studies.

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THANKS TO THE LORD

About the author

Teresa N. Washington is the author of The Architects of Existence: Aje in Yoruba Cosmology, Ontology, and Orature; Manifestations of Masculine Magnificence: Divinity in Africana Life, Lyrics, and Literature; and Our Mothers, Our Powers, Our Texts: Manifestations of Aje in Africana Literature. She is also the editor of The African World in Dialogue: An Appeal to Action! Dr. Washington’s analyses are published as chapters in Harold Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations: Toni Morrison’s Beloved: New Edition; Yemoja: Gender, Sexuality, and Creativity in the Latina/o and Afro- Atlantic Diasporas; Esu: Yoruba God, Power, and the Imaginative Frontiers; and Step into a World: A Global Anthology of the New Black Literature. Her articles have been published in many noted journals, including the African American Review, the Journal of American Folklore, FEMSPEC, and the Journal of Pan African Studies. Dr. Washington is the Ann Petry Endowed Professor in English at Grambling State University.