The Erotics of History: An Atlantic African Example

154 Pages·2018·2.82 MB·English

by  Donald L. Donham

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The Erotics of History

The Erotics of History
An Atlantic African Example
Donald L. Donham
University of California Press
University of California Press, one of the most distinguished
university presses in the United States, enriches lives around
the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social
sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the
UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from
individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.
ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
Oakland, California
© 2018 by Donald L. Donham
Suggested citation: Donham, D. L. The Erotics of History: An Atlantic
African Example. Oakland: University of California Press, 2018.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/luminos.45
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND
license. To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.
org/licenses.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Donham, Donald L. (Donald Lewis), author.
Title: The erotics of history : an Atlantic African example /
   Donald L. Donham.
Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2018] |
   Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017044673 | ISBN 9780520296312 (pbk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Fetishism (Sexual behavior)--A frica--History. |
   Erotica--Africa--History. | Sex role--Africa--History. | Africa--Sexual
   behavior--History. | Africa--Social conditions--History.
Classification: LCC HQ79 .D57 2018 | DDC 305.3096--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017044673
When I think about fetishism I want to know about
many other things. I do not see how one can talk about
fetishism, or sadomasochism, without thinking about the
production of rubber, the techniques and gear used for
controlling and riding horses, the high polished gleam
of military footwear, the history of silk stockings, the
cold authoritative qualities of medical equipment, or
the allure of motorcycles and the elusive liberties of
leaving the city for the open road. For that matter, how
can we think of fetishism without the impact of cities,
of certain streets and parks, of red-light districts and
“cheap amusements,” or the seductions of department
store counters, piled high with desirable and glamorous
goods . . . ? To me, fetishism raises all sorts of issues
concerning shifts in the manufacture of objects, the
historical and social specificities of control and skin
and social etiquette, or ambiguously experienced body
invasions and minutely graduated hierarchies.
—Gayle Rubin, “Sex Traffic”
Nothing is as it seems. History is carried like a pathology,
a cyclical melodrama immersed in artifice and unable to
function without it. The historical romance creates a will
for abusive submission, exacerbated by contemporary
ideologies that revere victimhood. Everyone wants to
play the nigger now.
—Kara E. Walker, Look Away! Look Away! Look Away!

Contents
List of Illustrations xi
Preface xiii
Heading South: An Introduction
1
1. Ethnography Interruptus
18
2. The Concept of the Fetish
28
3. African Origins
33
4. The Poverty of Sexuality
43
5. African Sexual Extraversion and Getting into Bed
with Robert Mapplethorpe
50
ix