Preface  ix

Acknowledgments  xiii

Introduction  1

1. "The Politics of My Position": Adrian Piper and Mythic Being  27

2. The Other "Other": Eleanor Antin and the Performance of Blackness  79

3. "Other-Oriented" Performance: Anna Deavere Smith and Twilight: Los Angeles  135

4. Nikki S. Lee's Projects and the Repackaging of the Politics of Identity  189

Conclusion  233

Notes  243

Bibliography  277

Index  293

“I welcome Smith’s willingness to grapple with the ambivalent feelings these artworks provoke.”—Helena Rickitt, Times Higher Education Supplement

“In Enacting Others, Smith effectively explores the shifting politics of identity and makes a strong case for her overarching claim that the interrogation of identity is an ongoing project in American art.”—Michelle Meagher, Liminalities

“Smith carefully contextualizes the work of the artists within the their art-historical milieus while arguing for the limits of these framings. This [is a] careful contextual consideration.”—Patricia Ybarra, American Literature

“Smith’s study helps us continue necessary discussions of how to stage our struggles against oppressions of all kinds, as well as to contend with the limitations of our own vision.”—Jayna Brown, Art Journal

“Cherise Smith’s strategic intervention into the art historical scholarship consists of interjecting into the narrative of women artists’ discourse since 1970 the discussion of artists’ enactment of the other as material for constructing and negotiating an empowered self-image.”—Jovana Stokic, Woman’s Art Journal

“Smith avoids models of progressivism or generational overthrow in favor of a cool, evidence-based analysis. Following the artists’ tactics, the book moves from the relative simplicity of declaring singular, marked identity as a political position, through acknowledgment of intersectionality, to a universalist turn toward humanism, ending with postidentity positionalities. The strength of Smith’s analysis is that it is alert to the continuing evolution of the politics of identity in art.”—Margo Hobbs Thompson, Signs

“Enacting Others is a worthwhile, boundary-crossing endeavor in its own
right. By merging art history, politics, critical theory, and diverse modes of artistic creation and expression, Smith offers a stimulating reflection on issues of identity: how it is formed and negotiated, its arbitrariness, and its constructedness.”—Mark Seamon, Alabama Review

“Readers will gain much from the thorough analytical work that Smith has done to provide social, political, and theoretical context.”— Elise Morrison, Theatre Annual

“I welcome Smith’s willingness to grapple with the ambivalent feelings these artworks provoke.”—Helena Rickitt, Times Higher Education Supplement

“In Enacting Others, Smith effectively explores the shifting politics of identity and makes a strong case for her overarching claim that the interrogation of identity is an ongoing project in American art.”—Michelle Meagher, Liminalities

“Smith carefully contextualizes the work of the artists within the their art-historical milieus while arguing for the limits of these framings. This [is a] careful contextual consideration.”—Patricia Ybarra, American Literature

“Smith’s study helps us continue necessary discussions of how to stage our struggles against oppressions of all kinds, as well as to contend with the limitations of our own vision.”—Jayna Brown, Art Journal

“Cherise Smith’s strategic intervention into the art historical scholarship consists of interjecting into the narrative of women artists’ discourse since 1970 the discussion of artists’ enactment of the other as material for constructing and negotiating an empowered self-image.”—Jovana Stokic, Woman’s Art Journal

“Smith avoids models of progressivism or generational overthrow in favor of a cool, evidence-based analysis. Following the artists’ tactics, the book moves from the relative simplicity of declaring singular, marked identity as a political position, through acknowledgment of intersectionality, to a universalist turn toward humanism, ending with postidentity positionalities. The strength of Smith’s analysis is that it is alert to the continuing evolution of the politics of identity in art.”—Margo Hobbs Thompson, Signs

“Enacting Others is a worthwhile, boundary-crossing endeavor in its own
right. By merging art history, politics, critical theory, and diverse modes of artistic creation and expression, Smith offers a stimulating reflection on issues of identity: how it is formed and negotiated, its arbitrariness, and its constructedness.”—Mark Seamon, Alabama Review

“Readers will gain much from the thorough analytical work that Smith has done to provide social, political, and theoretical context.”— Elise Morrison, Theatre Annual

“Enacting Others is both an important primer on performance and an exploration of the U.S. obsession with race and its formations. Through impressive studies of four artists, Adrian Piper, Eleanor Antin, Anna Deavere Smith, and Nikki S. Lee, Cherise Smith examines the remarkable reach of the embodied idea and the use of strategies from conceptual art to traditional theater, and tactics from cross-dressing to minstrelsy. Smith’s voice is a welcome addition to writing on contemporary art. It will redefine how we understand performance’s ability to display and address differentials of power.”—Kellie Jones, author of EyeMinded: Living and Writing Contemporary Art

“Cherise Smith writes eloquently against the notion of post-identity politics, using her understanding of the persistent ‘politics of identity’ to trace the boundary-crossing practices of these four important artists. Smith discusses spectators’ identification strategies, but keeps an astute critical eye on the material corporeal circumstances of living within identity at this particular historical moment. From minstrelsy to passing, drag to embodiment, Smith parses theoretical tropes to study performance as a laboratory for experiments with human identity. Using personal memory and theory alongside political insights, the book treats a useful range of examples, from popular culture, to film, to art historical performance, to performance in everyday life. Enacting Others makes a vital contribution to gender and critical race studies.”—Jill Dolan, author of Utopia in Performance: Finding Hope at the Theater

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