Sovereignty of Quiet

KEVIN QUASHIE is an associate professor of Afro-American studies at Smith College. He is the author of Black Women, Identity, and Cultural Theory: (Un)Becoming the Subject (Rutgers University Press).

"The Sovereignty of Quiet is a profound and excellent look at quiet and its relationship with black identity, black culture, and existentialism. With impeccable scholarship, beautiful writing, and powerful arguments, Quashie makes a fabulous contribution to the field. A success!" - Debra Walker King (author of African Americans and the Culture of Pain) "With fluid and beautiful prose, Quashie’s book not only offers readers another way to think about African American selfhood, but also other ways to approach the very act of reading itself." - Emily Bernard (author of Carl Van Vechten and the Harlem Renaissance) "Quashie challenges the general assumption that African American commentary is expressed in loud voices as he studies the often-overlooked internal conflicts of 'black culture'. His intertwining of both factual and fictional situations provides a brilliant and intriguiging insight that ultimately suggests an overwhelming gentle message about African American protest and resistance. Recommended."(Choice)

• Introduction1. Publicness, Silence, and the Sovereignty of the Interior2. Not Double Consciousness but the Consciousness of Surrender3. Maud Martha and the Practice of Paying Attention4. Quiet, Vulnerability, and Nationalism5. The Capacities of Waiting, the Expressiveness of PrayerConclusionAcknowledgmentsPermissionsNotesBibliographyIndex