Ceramic Uncles and Celluloid Mammies: Black Images and Their Influence on Culture [Paperback]

Patricia A. Turner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 22, 2002

Exploring white American popular culture of the past century and a half, Turner details subtle and not-so-subtle negative tropes and images of black people, from Uncle Tom and Aunt Jemima to jokes about Michael Jackson and Jesse Jackson. She feels that far too little has changed in terms of white stereotyping and its negative effects.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this astute study of black representations in American popular culture, Turner, who teaches at the University of California, Davis, unpacks a vast range of insidious and pervasive racist iconography. Turner documents how cultural artifacts as varied as racial jokes, urban myths, household bric-a-brac and media portrayals spanning the last 150 years reinforce longstanding stereotypes of African Americans. A chapter on "contemptible collectibles" surveys the servile and imbecilic imagery of domestic kitsch like mammy cookie jars, lawn ornaments and smiling pickaninny dolls, noting the premium on such items in today's antiques market. Elsewhere Turner explores the legacy of 19th-century minstrelsy and Harriet Beecher Stowe's antislavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, whose eponymous, desexualized, pious protagonist continues to influence black roles in contemporary TV and film. Most startling is Turner's analysis of recent films set in Africa, whose black characters, she notes, are granted far less dignified roles than their white and primate co-stars. Turner's research is not especially groundbreaking, but her lucid analysis and keen insights are most valuable. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Turner, a black studies professor, has written a scholarly book on the things we don't really notice-figurines and package labels. She also discusses the images of blacks on the silver screen and in books and plays. As well written as her first book, I Heard It Through the Grapevine: Rumor in African-American Culture (LJ 8/93), this volume will have less mass appeal because Turner's more weighty theme is the prevalence of racism in an American culture that is primarly Eurocentric. In her comments on film, she shows how even positive images of blacks are filtered through white biases and how stories of black heroes are watered down by enlarging the white roles in the stories as in the movies Glory and Mississippi Burning. This book would be a fine addition to any academic library, as it can be used for research on film, black studies, popular culture, and American literature. Larger public libraries with local interest in any of those topics should also consider purchasing.
Anita L. Cole, Miami-Dade P.L. System, Fla.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: University of Virginia Press; 1st University of Virginia Press Ed edition (November 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813921554
• ISBN-13: 978-0813921556
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #664,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Loved It, is an understatement., August 30, 2010

By 

Elizabeth Axtman - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ceramic Uncles and Celluloid Mammies: Black Images and Their Influence on Culture (Paperback)

Dr. Patricia A. Turners book "Ceramic Uncles & Celluloid Mammies....", was the first book of race theory I read after a 3 year post grad school hiatus (I was race theory exhausted to say the least). I have studied race theory for years, but Dr. Turner's voice was so refreshingly feminine, strong, and accessible. I didn't want to put it down, because of how much my work as an artist was in sync with the words in her book. The very reason the above reviewer was repelled by the book is the same reason I loved it. Removing the black figure and placing it an alien being (no pun intended) such as a Gremlin or Audrey II (Little Shop of Horrors) to take racism and stereotypes to whole other unapologetic level was brilliant...and I couldn't agree more. Listen to the voice, hello!

I have recommended this book to students on countless occasions or artists' working in themes that Dr. Turner employs in her well thought out book.

If you are interested in race and it's influence on popular culture, get on it!

1 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Is she serious?, March 19, 2007

By 

E. Kasumov "zorkus" (Newton, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ceramic Uncles and Celluloid Mammies: Black Images and Their Influence on Culture (Paperback)

While there are some valid points made in this book, the one thing that completely destroyed any validity it might have had was the author equating "Gremlins" to racist propaganda.

Credibility can only be stretched so far.