EN 2012 Study Guide - Final Guide: Mykki Blanco, Social Construction Of Gender, Surname
17 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
How black masculinity is socially constructed as criminal and marginal. Refuses to approach maleness as a stable category. Cites norms of rap videos to question gender norms. Canadian first nations visual performer, installation artist. Gender performativity as culturally specific: propagated by colonialism. Histories (produced by the colonizers) often ignore pre-colonial sexual and gender diversity and represent the binary as having always existed. Uses 19th century paintings of indians to criticize romantic savage . Miss chief eagle testickle forces innocent naked white men to become her figure models, seduces them with whiskey, and when she"s done dresses them up as more authentic european males. Subverts subjectivity and authority of colonial art history. She shows the power of the storyteller to define history, culture, and gender. She cites/reiterates both past and present, indigenous and european, and masculine and feminine. Puts authenticity of primitive masculinity into question. Mixes gender codes from past and present. Draws attention to citation through which performativity happens.
