Kobena Mercer

Kobena Mercer brings a black perspective to the reading of a wide range of cultural texts, events and experiences in the politics of ethnicity, sexuality and 'race' during the 1980s. Mercer seeks out new hybrid identities that have been forged out of this turbulent period--focusing particularly on show more the black diaspora societies of the United States and Britain--from Michael Jackson's ethnic androgyny to the homoerotic photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe. Welcome to the Jungle examines black cultural forms such as hairstyles, dress, and music, and new forms of cultural expression in black film, photography, music and visual art that have emerged with the latest generation of black artists, and situates this prolific creativity within a framework that reveals fresh perspectives on the complexity of identity and diversity in an era of postmodernity. show less