Abstract

Gallery of a Colored Girl is a senior independent study project under the College of Wooster's Theater and Dance Department. It consists of a written thesis paper, a 30 minute devised performance art piece, and a performance journal. Using performance theory, critical race theory, and black feminist theory as its theoretical base, the first two chapters of Gallery's thesis explore the ways gendered gazes of white and black Americans on the black female body have caused African American women from the Baby Boomer and X generations to perform up to and against common stereotypes of black women in their everyday lives. These chapters ultimately assert that the everyday performances of African American women are passed down to subsequent generations through cultural habitus. The next chapter of the project explores the ways female African American performances artists from the Baby Boomer and X generations have expressed their inheritance of their foremothers' performance of stereotypes on stage . The last chapter of Gallery of a Colored Girl concludes by first exploring Jasmine Verreen's devised performance art piece also entitled Gallery of a Colored Girl to show how millinneal African American women perform their identities in response to the gaze.

Advisor

Noriega, Jimmy

Second Advisor

Peterson, Charles

Department

Africana Studies

Disciplines

African American Studies | Women's Studies

Keywords

performance art, african american women, performance theory, the gaze, millennials

Publication Date

2013

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2013 Jasmine Verreen