Power Relations in Black Lives - Reading African American Literature and Culture with Bourdieu and Elias

Aug 21, 2026

Power Relations in Black Lives explores how relational sociology’s key concepts can be used as hermeneutic tools for literary and cultural studies, with a focus on (African) American Studies. Drawing on Norbert Elias and Pierre Bourdieu, the collected essays examine power, violence, habitus, symbolic mechanisms, and social reproduction across major authors including Gwendolyn Brooks, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Colson Whitehead, Toni Morrison, and Percival Everett. The volume also addresses musical and cultural cases, homelessness narratives, and questions of racialized justice.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages285

Reading Time7 h 19 min

AccessFree to download

Contents

Preface

Introduction: Key Concepts of Relational Sociology as Tools of Hermeneutics

Christa Buschendorf (ed.) Power Relations in Black Lives American Culture Studies | Volume 17 Christa Buschendorf (ed.) Power Relations in Black Lives Reading African American Literature and Culture with Bourdieu and Elias I would like to thank copy-editor Dr. Björn Bosserhoff for his thorough and proficient work as well as for his exceptional personal commitment to this project. An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high quality books Open Access for the public good. The Open Access ISBN for this book is 978-3-8394-3660-8 . More information about the initiative and links to the Open [Access version can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org](Access version can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org). Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at [http://dnb.d-nb.de](http://dnb.d-nb.de) This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 (BY-NC-ND) which means that the text may be used for non-commercial purposes, provided credit is given to the author. For details go to [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) To create an adaptation, translation, or derivative of the original work and for commercial use, further permission is required and can be obtained by contacting rights@ [transcript-verlag.de](transcript-verlag.de) Creative Commons license terms for re-use do not apply to any content (such as graphs, figures, photos, excerpts, etc.) not original to the Open Access publication and further permission may be required from the rights holder. The obligation to research and clear permission lies solely with the party re-using the material. © 2018 transcript Verlag, Bielefeld All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Cover layout: Kordula Röckenhaus, Bielefeld Typeset by Dr. Björn Bosserhoff Printed by docupoint GmbH, Magdeburg Print-ISBN 978-3-8376-3660-4 PDF-ISBN 978-3-8394-3660-8 [https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839436608](https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839436608) For Bernhard Contents Preface | 9 Introduction: Key Concepts of Relational Sociology as Tools of Hermeneutics Christa Buschendorf | 11 Satin-Legs Smith and a Mississippi Mother: Dissections of Habitus in Gwendolyn Brooks Astrid Franke | 35 Intellectual Disposition and Bodily Knowledge: Richard Wright’s Literary Practice Stephan Kuhl | 55 “You have to leave home to find home”: Charismatic Violence and Split Habitus in Ralph Ellison’s Second Unfinished Novel Nicole Lindenberg | 77 (Post-Black) Bildungsroman or Novel of (Black Bourgeois) Manners? The Logic of Reproduction in Colson Whitehead’s Sag Harbor Marlon Lieber | 101 “You People Almost Had Me Hating You Because of the Color of Your Skin”: Symbolic Violence and Black In-Group Racism in Percival Everett’s I Am Not Sidney Poitier Johannes Kohrs | 123 Black Women’s Business: Female Entrepreneurship and Economic Agency in Toni Morrison’s God Help the Child Stefanie Mueller | 145 “What’s the Position You Hold?”: Bourdieu and Rap Music Timo Müller | 165 “Decolorized for Popular Appeal”: ‘True’ Stories of African American Homelessness Wibke Schniedermann | 183 Understanding Ferguson: Suburban Marginality and Racialized Penality in the Age of Neoliberalism Luvena Kopp | 205 Transformations of Oppression: The Case of Bayard Rustin Nicole Hirschfelder | 237 Intro

FAQs

What theoretical framework does the book use to read African American literature and culture?

The volume applies concepts from relational sociology, especially those associated with Norbert Elias and Pierre Bourdieu, as tools for interpretation (hermeneutics).

Which kinds of topics do the essays address?

The essays address habitus and bodily knowledge, forms of violence (including symbolic and charismatic), social reproduction and manners, racialized marginality and penal outcomes, and oppression in relation to figures such as Bayard Rustin.

Are the contributions focused only on literature, or also on cultural and social phenomena?

They extend beyond texts to cultural practices and social phenomena, including rap music, narratives of homelessness, and discussions of understandings of Ferguson within broader neoliberal contexts.

Aug 21, 2026

Upload by Seraphina