Acknowledgments ix

Introduction: Another Litany for Survival 1

1. The Image of Common Sense 11

2. In the Interval 27

3. “In Order to Move Forward”: Common-Sense Black Nationalism and Haile Gerima’s Sankofa 45

4. “We’ll Just Have to Get Guns and Be Men”: The Cinematic Appearance of Black Revolutionary Women 68

5. “A Black Belt in Bar Stool”: Blaxploitation, Surplus, and The L Word 95

6. “What’s Up With That? She Don’t Talk?”: Set It Off’s Black Lesbian Butch-Femme 118

7. Reflections on the Black Femme’s Role in the [Re]production of Cinematic Reality: The Case of Eve’s Bayou 138

Notes 159

Bibliography 195

Index 203

“The Witch’s Flight gives interesting insight to how images of Black women have affected racism, homophobia, and misogyny in the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s. . . . While a picture is worth a thousand words, Keeling’s descriptions and explanations clearly depict the connection between the images we see every day and their influences on Black Nationalism and what we except as truth. Even when describing films that I have never seen, the writing in The Witch’s Flight brought the pictures to life and allowed me to grasp the visual impact of each example.” — Arielle Altman, Feminist Review Blog

“For anyone interested in cultural analysis, Keeling’s approach is ultimately satisfying. Ironically, she digs below visual “reality” in a way which is scrupulous, logical and far from glib.” — Jean Roberta, TCM Reviews

“Keeling’s argument is sweeping but persuasive: that the politics and culture of African-Americans since the beginning of the 20th century are inseparable from the development of the movie industry and then television.” — Lizardlez, Rainbow Reviews

“Methodologically, The Witch’s Flight fits squarely on the shelf with other film, visual, and media studies scholarship while also straddling critical U.S. historiography, queer theory, women’s studies, and critical race studies. And yet, its methodology represents more than an example of interdisciplinarity precisely because it uniquely embodies a field of thought working to understand its own implication in reproducing global capitalism, neoliberalism, and the ruse of representation.” — Stacy I. Macías, GLQ

"[A] rich, provocative, deeply personal book. . . . Keeling's work is revelatory and refreshing; this is a book that continually engages the reader. Highly recommended.” — G. A. Foster, Choice

"Keeling successfully digs below surface realities in a way that is scrupulous and methodical." — Jean Roberta, Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide

"Keeling’s book is an astonishing example of how to do things with film and feminism.... Evidence that feminist film theory not only changes how you see the world, but changes the world itself." — Sophie Mayer, British Film Institute

“The Witch’s Flight gives interesting insight to how images of Black women have affected racism, homophobia, and misogyny in the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s. . . . While a picture is worth a thousand words, Keeling’s descriptions and explanations clearly depict the connection between the images we see every day and their influences on Black Nationalism and what we except as truth. Even when describing films that I have never seen, the writing in The Witch’s Flight brought the pictures to life and allowed me to grasp the visual impact of each example.” —Arielle Altman, Feminist Review Blog

“For anyone interested in cultural analysis, Keeling’s approach is ultimately satisfying. Ironically, she digs below visual “reality” in a way which is scrupulous, logical and far from glib.” —Jean Roberta, TCM Reviews

“Keeling’s argument is sweeping but persuasive: that the politics and culture of African-Americans since the beginning of the 20th century are inseparable from the development of the movie industry and then television.” —Lizardlez, Rainbow Reviews

“Methodologically, The Witch’s Flight fits squarely on the shelf with other film, visual, and media studies scholarship while also straddling critical U.S. historiography, queer theory, women’s studies, and critical race studies. And yet, its methodology represents more than an example of interdisciplinarity precisely because it uniquely embodies a field of thought working to understand its own implication in reproducing global capitalism, neoliberalism, and the ruse of representation.” —Stacy I. Macías, GLQ

"[A] rich, provocative, deeply personal book. . . . Keeling's work is revelatory and refreshing; this is a book that continually engages the reader. Highly recommended.” —G. A. Foster, Choice

"Keeling successfully digs below surface realities in a way that is scrupulous and methodical." —Jean Roberta, Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide

"Keeling’s book is an astonishing example of how to do things with film and feminism.... Evidence that feminist film theory not only changes how you see the world, but changes the world itself." —Sophie Mayer, British Film Institute

“Kara Keeling offers a tour de force extension of Deleuze’s writings: she understands cinema as a form of thought, as well as a motor of a shared sensorium, capable of numbing repetition as well as provocative alternative visions. No ‘Deleuzeobabble’ here, though, just sweet grooves and careful readings. With lucid and piercing argument, Keeling is a serious critic of black visual culture, following a line of powerful litanies for survival from Frantz Fanon to Angela Davis to Fred Moten.” — Amy Villarejo, author of, Lesbian Rule: Cultural Criticism and the Value of Desire

“There is a special alchemy at work in this wonderful project that transforms painstaking research and original theoretical insight into a superb understanding of the cinematic’s deeply cathected relation to blackness, gender, and sexuality. Kara Keeling watches, reads, and stitches together a tapestry that teaches us how to re-read and re-think what we thought we knew already of visual culture, of the peculiarities of our social order’s self-imagination, and of the survival of black femme desire.” — Wahneema Lubiano, editor of, The House that Race Built

Permission to Photocopy (coursepacks)

If you are requesting permission to photocopy material for classroom use, please contact the Copyright Clearance Center at copyright.com;

If the Copyright Clearance Center cannot grant permission, you may request permission from our Copyrights & Permissions Manager (use Contact Information listed below).

Permission to Reprint

If you are requesting permission to reprint DUP material (journal or book selection) in another book or in any other format, contact our Copyrights & Permissions Manager (use Contact Information listed below).

Images/Art

Many images/art used in material copyrighted by Duke University Press are controlled, not by the Press, but by the owner of the image. Please check the credit line adjacent to the illustration, as well as the front and back matter of the book for a list of credits. You must obtain permission directly from the owner of the image. Occasionally, Duke University Press controls the rights to maps or other drawings. Please direct permission requests for these images to permissions@dukeupress.edu.
For book covers to accompany reviews, please contact the publicity department.

Subsidiary Rights/Foreign Translations

If you're interested in a Duke University Press book for subsidiary rights/translations, please contact permissions@dukeupress.edu. Include the book title/author, rights sought, and estimated print run.

Disability Requests

Instructions for requesting an electronic text on behalf of a student with disabilities are available here.

Rights & Permissions Contact Information

Email: permissions@dukeupress.edu

Email contact for coursepacks: asstpermissions@dukeupress.edu

Fax: 919-688-4574

Mail:
Duke University Press
Rights and Permissions
905 W. Main Street
Suite 18B
Durham, NC 27701

For all requests please include:

1. Author's name. If book has an editor that is different from the article author, include editor's name also.

2. Title of the journal article or book chapter and title of journal or title of book

3. Page numbers (if excerpting, provide specifics)

For coursepacks, please also note: The number of copies requested, the school and professor requesting

For reprints and subsidiary rights, please also note: Your volume title, publication date, publisher, print run, page count, rights sought