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Insecure, Awkward, and #Winning: Intersectionality of Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Works of Issa Rae is the first project dedicated exclusively to Issa Rae and her works. Her work offers a fertile space where contemporary issues intersect, encouraging audiences to discuss meaning and impact within their own lives, society, and cultural identities. The text offers analysis informed by Critical Media Studies, Cultural Studies, Critical Race Theory, and Intersectionality research. The book features a collection of provocative contributions from scholars from multiple disciplines-including literary, history, and communication. The project offers varying perspectives on Rae, insecure, her memoir, The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, and the relevance of her work to American culture. Throughout the book are dispersed brief reflections from veteran scholars, content creators, and industry professionals on the significance of Rae and her work. These pieces speak to the impact of Rae's cultural productions. The book contains five thematic sections that include a total of twelve chapters. Those chapters address a range of topics including Black sexuality, humor, gentrification, race in the workplace, White allies, and Blackness in digital spaces. The goal is to reach audiences both popular and scholarly. The authors hope this project sparks the interest of fans and those new to Rae's work. Among others, this book could be used in the following courses: Representation in the Media; Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies (in the Media); Research Seminar in Black Studies; Womanism, Black Feminist/Queer Theories; and The African American Storytellers.
List of contents
LaRonda Sanders-Senu/Adria Y. Goldman: Introduction - Clint C. Wilson, II: A Critical Perspective on Issa Rae - LaRonda Sanders-Senu: The Pleasure Principle: Seeking the Erotic in the Works of Toni Morrison and Issa Rae - Adria Y. Goldman: My Ho-tation, My Rules: Discussing New Sex Scripts for Black Women in insecure - Andre Nicholson: "Securely" Shifting the Gaze on Black Men - Ronisha W. Browdy: Hued, Humorous and Human: Interrogating the Rhetorical Significance of the "Awkward" in Issa Rae's ABG Identity - Joshua K. Wright: "Because of Slavery": insecure's Due North Narrative and Black Female Agency - David Ikard: A Cultural Studies Perspective on Issa Rae - Brittany-Rae Gregory/Sharifa Simon-Roberts: It's I-Wood Now: An Exploration of Gentrification in insecure - Christian Dotson-Pierson: Hella Black and Hella Proud: How insecure Reshapes the LA Narrative - Emily Ruth Rutter: We Got Y'all?: insecure's Frieda and Issa Rae's Cautionary Tales about Performative Allies - Christopher K. Jackson: White Liberalism and Woke Culture: Storylines in insecure - Vanne-Paige Padgett: We Got Y'all: Black Feminism, Misogynoir, and Soul Work in Nonprofits - Morgan W. Smalls: insecure, Issa Dee, and Facebook: An Analysis of Black Women's Conversation in Digital Spaces - Joanna L. Jenkins: Big Complicated: Advertising, Algorithmic Bias and insecure - Summer Jackson-Cole: A Multi-Hyphenated Lifestyle Perspective on Issa Rae - Joanna L. Jenkins/Andre Nicholson: Final Thoughts: Walking Into the Next Season Like... - Appendix A: The Cast of insecure - Appendix B: insecure Episode Titles by Season - Contributors.
About the author
Adria Y. Goldman (Ph.D., Howard University) is Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Mary Washington, co-author of Black Women in Reality Television Docusoaps: Media Depictions and Reflections, and co-editor of "I Gotta Testify: Kanye West, Hip Hop, and the Church" and Black Women and Popular Culture: The Conversation Continues.
Joanna L. Jenkins (Ph.D., Howard University) is the Associate Dean of Moore College. She is the author of Black Women and Advertising Ethics: A Womanist Perspective, The Convergence Crisis, and a Ted Talk titled "Reimaging the Advertising Revolution."
Andre Nicholson (Ph.D., Howard University) is Associate Professor of Communication at Middle Georgia State University. He has been awarded two grants from the Association of American Colleges and Universities. He was elected to be a Governor's Teaching Fellow for the 2020-2021 academic school year.
LaRonda Sanders-Senu (Ph.D., University of Tennessee) is Associate Professor of English at Middle Georgia State University. She is the author of a review of Africa in the American Imagination: Popular Culture, Radicalized Identities, and African Visual Culture by Carol Magee. She was a USG Learning Scholar Nominee in 2018.
