Appealing Because He Is Appalling

This collection invites us to think about how African-descended men are seen as both appealing and appalling, and exposed to eroticized hatred and violence and how some resist, accommodate, and capitalize on their eroticization. Drawing on James Baldwin and Frantz Fanon, the contributors examine the contradictions, paradoxes, and politico-psychosexual implications of Black men as objects of sexual desire, fear, and loathing. Kitossa and the contributing authors use Baldwin's and Fanon's cultural and psychoanalytic interpretations of Black masculinities to demonstrate their neglected contributions to thinking about and beyond colonialist and Western gender and masculinity studies. This innovative and sophisticated work will be of interest to scholars and students of cultural and media studies, gender and masculinities studies, sociology, political science, history, and critical race and racialization. Foreword by Tommy J. Curry.

Contributors: Katerina Deliovsky, Delroy Hall, Dennis O. Howard, Elishma Khokhar, Tamari Kitossa, Kemar McIntosh, Leroy F. Moore Jr., Watufani M. Poe, Satwinder Rehal, John G. Russell, Mohan Siddi Transnational perspectives on Black men as objects of sexual desire, fear, and loathing. Foreword, 16 B&W photographs, references "Appealing Because He Is Appalling engages critically with the work of James Baldwin and Frantz Fanon, exploring various registers of Black masculinity, Black sexuality and anti-Black racism. It is intersectional, reflective of social and political context, varied, and original in its scope." "Appealing Because He Is Appalling engages with sociology, cultural studies, post-colonial studies, social anthropology, and Black studies across several continents. An exceptionally insightful and rigorous anthology, it will appeal to both scholars and activists." "Appealing Because He Is Appalling is an epitome of literary dialectics on the restoration of Black man to his original state in Eden. Undoubtedly, it represents a gigantic refocus and paradigmatic shift from Black male 'gendercide' to decolonizing rebirth of Black manhood. It is a literary bible, especially for all institutions engaging in Black gender studies." "Kitossa and the contributing authors have demonstrated a powerful example of reading Black men and boys in generative and restorative ways. Interestingly, Baldwin's and Fanon's cultural and psychoanalytic interpretations of Black masculinities add a profound level of criticality to these essays. I recommend this book for scholars, activists, organizers, and those interested in contemporary developments in Black masculinity studies." Martez Files, Decolonization of Criminology and Justice 4(1), 85-91 "This collection is comprehensive, insightful, theoretical, historical, and riveting in its exposure of the dangers and desires that Black masculinity poses in a global context. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty." "The book compiles a handful of excellent pieces that use this foundational framework to explore the representations of black masculinities and the experiences of black men across the globe…. This collection is an exciting contribution to the literature on masculinities. Its interdisciplinary approach illuminates rich avenues for inquiry regarding the representation of masculinity in media and scholarship." Warren Jensen, Men and Masculinities, 2021



• Foreword xi


• Black Maleness as a Deleterious Category / Tommy J. Curry


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• Preface xxvii


• Acknowledgements xxxv


• Introduction xxxix


• Tamari Kitossa


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• I Erotic Racism, Tropes, and Interracial Sex


• Art, Nations, and Transnationalism


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• 1 Can the Black Man Be Nude in a Culture That Imagines Him as Naked? 3


• A Baldwinian and Fanonian Psychosexual Reading of Black Masculinity in "Western" Art and Cinema / Tamari Kitossa


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• 2 Anaconda