She’s Mad Real: Popular Culture and West Indian Girls in Brooklyn

249 Pages·2011·3.169 MB·English

by  LaBennett Oneka

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LaBennett, Oneka. She's Mad Real : Popular Culture and West Indian
Girls in Brooklyn, New York University Press, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/socal/detail.action?docID=865786.
Created from socal on 2022-03-30 03:18:27.
She’s Mad Real
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LaBennett, Oneka. She's Mad Real : Popular Culture and West Indian Girls in Brooklyn, New York University
Press, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/socal/detail.action?docID=865786.
Created from socal on 2022-03-30 03:18:27.
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LaBennett, Oneka. She's Mad Real : Popular Culture and West Indian Girls in Brooklyn, New York University
Press, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/socal/detail.action?docID=865786.
Created from socal on 2022-03-30 03:18:27.
She’s Mad Real
Popular Culture and
West Indian Girls
in Brooklyn
Oneka LaBennett
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2 © NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
thg New York and London
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LaBennett, Oneka. She's Mad Real : Popular Culture and West Indian Girls in Brooklyn, New York University
Press, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/socal/detail.action?docID=865786.
Created from socal on 2022-03-30 03:18:27.
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
www.nyupress.org
© 2011 by New York University
All rights reserved
References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing.
Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs
that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
LaBennett, Oneka.
She's mad real : popular culture and West Indian girls in Brooklyn /
Oneka LaBennett.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–8147–5247–0 (hardback) — ISBN 978–0–8147–5248–7 (pb) —
.de ISBN 978–0–8147–5312–5 (e-book)
vre 1. African American girls—New York (State)—Brooklyn. 2. Minority youth—
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LaBennett, Oneka. She's Mad Real : Popular Culture and West Indian Girls in Brooklyn, New York University
Press, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/socal/detail.action?docID=865786.
Created from socal on 2022-03-30 03:18:27.
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
1 Consuming Identities: Toward a Youth Culture–Centered 1
Approach to West Indian Transnationalism
2 “Our Museum”: Mapping Race, Gender, and 41
West Indian Transnationalism
3 Dual Citizenship in the Hip-Hop Nation: 103
Gender and Authenticity in Black Youth Culture
4 “I Think They’re Looking for a Skinny Chick!”: 135
Girls and Boys Consuming Racialized Beauty
5 Conclusion: Placing Gendered and Generational 183
Notions of West Indian Success
Notes 207
.d Bibliography 215
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ser sth Index 227
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ir llA About the Author 240
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LaBennett, Oneka. She's Mad Real : Popular Culture and West Indian Girls in Brooklyn, New York University
Press, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/socal/detail.action?docID=865786.
Created from socal on 2022-03-30 03:18:27.
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LaBennett, Oneka. She's Mad Real : Popular Culture and West Indian Girls in Brooklyn, New York University
Press, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/socal/detail.action?docID=865786.
Created from socal on 2022-03-30 03:18:27.
Acknowledgments
Because this project developed over the course of a decade, I had to
rely on generous support from many people without whom I could not have
completed this book.
My greatest thanks goes to the adults and youth in Brooklyn who shared
their stories and experiences with me. I owe a debt of gratitude especially
to the Museum Team interns and staff at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum,
who welcomed me and allowed me to hang out with them. I hope this book
enables readers to hear their voices and to appreciate their vitality and resil-
ience in the face of popular representations and policy discourses that are
not attuned to the complexity of their subjectivities.
As an undergraduate student, the world of academia mystified me, and
I was fortunate to connect with Elizabeth Traube, Ann duCille, Lydia L.
English, and Steven Gregory, brilliant professors who initially sparked
my interest in anthropology and who continue to serve as intellectual(s)
heroes.
My advisers at Harvard University, Mary M. Steedly, James L. Watson, J.
Lorand Matory, and Mary C. Waters, animated and guided me.
Early on, I received a faculty research grant from College of the Holy
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ser sth Goldstein, Susan Cunningham, and James Manigault-Bryant.
g This project came to fruition after I joined the faculty at Fordham Uni-
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ytisre African and African American Studies each offered immeasurable assis-
vin tance in the form of friendship, feedback, and professional support; my
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kro sincerest appreciation goes to Mark Chapman, Jane Edward, Amir Idris,
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thg am also indebted to Glenn Hendler in American Studies, Allan Gilbert
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LaBennett, Oneka. She's Mad Real : Popular Culture and West Indian Girls in Brooklyn, New York University
Press, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/socal/detail.action?docID=865786.
Created from socal on 2022-03-30 03:18:27.
in Sociology and Anthropology, Arnaldo Cruz-Malavé in Latin American
and Latino Studies, and my Fordham students who have advocated for my
courses.
At crucial junctures I benefited greatly from critical commentary and
reassurance generously provided by O. Hugo Benavides, Daniel HoSang,
and Raymond Codrington, whom I owe tremendous thanks. I would also
like to acknowledge colleagues whose kindness bolstered me and whose
work invigorated me: Elizabeth Chin, Deborah A. Thomas, Jacqueline Nassy
Brown, and Jennifer Tilton.
I am extremely thankful to Jennifer Hammer, my editor at NYU Press,
for her commitment to this project and for her invaluable suggestions,
which sharpened the book’s readability considerably; to Andrew Tiedt, who
devoted his expertise to my demographic statistics; to Danielle Jakubowski,
who meticulously transcribed interviews; and to anonymous reviewers,
whose insightful criticism, coupled with a keen awareness of my project’s
vision, enlivened and enhanced this work.
My friends and family have sustained me through numerous challenges.
Thank you, David Drogin, Nicole Davis, Dominique Kim, Enas Hanna, and
Melissa Woods for years of friendship, and thank you, Mom, Ray, and Don,
for your love.
Finally, my deepest love and thanks to my husband, Shawn McDaniel,
whose devotion, patience, and loving encouragement fortified me. You were
a constant source of inspiration, a ready ear, and a willing proofreader whose
presence simultaneously soothed and motivated me. Our years together have
been my happiest even amid struggle and hard work. You and Mr. B bring
joy to my life!
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viii | Acknowledgments
LaBennett, Oneka. She's Mad Real : Popular Culture and West Indian Girls in Brooklyn, New York University
Press, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/socal/detail.action?docID=865786.
Created from socal on 2022-03-30 03:18:27.
1
Consuming Identities
Toward a Youth Culture–Centered
Approach to West Indian Transnationalism
China takes the A train to the Fulton Street/Broadway Nassau stop
to get to her job as a sales clerk at a clothing store near Ground Zero, one
of two after-school jobs China holds. It is just after 4 p.m. on a Friday in
August, and, on this particular afternoon, China rides the train with her best
friend, Nadine, and two other friends, Neema and Mariah.1 The subway car is
full of businesspeople leaving early from Wall Street jobs, vacationing tour-
ists, and a few local New Yorkers of varying ethnicities. The businesspeople
are mostly White and dressed in suits. The tourists, dressed in shorts and tee
shirts with cameras swinging from their necks and purses held close, are also
White. Both the tourists and the businesspeople appear to be uneasy shar-
ing such close quarters with the Black teenage girls. China and Nadine wear
jeans, tight tee shirts, and sneakers, while Neema and Mariah wear cotton
shorts with matching tank tops, and inexpensive, trendy sandals. The four
girls are acutely aware of how the other commuters regard their presence on
the subway car. The girls seem to spontaneously react to and feed the avoid-
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ser sth across the subway car, taking up more seats than they need, and laughing
g boisterously. China, whose hair is dyed the same shade of gold as that of her
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ytisre loudly over the divide, entertaining her friends (who are in hysterics at her
vin poor singing) and visibly annoying the other commuters around her.
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thg in my life, no one’s gonna hurt me again.
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LaBennett, Oneka. She's Mad Real : Popular Culture and West Indian Girls in Brooklyn, New York University
Press, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/socal/detail.action?docID=865786.
Created from socal on 2022-03-30 03:18:27.