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Temple University Press
The following review appeared in the November 2017 issue of CHOICE. The review is for your internal use only. Please review our Permission and Reprints Guidelines or email permissions@ala-choice.org.
Humanities
Philosophy
Curry (philosophy and Africana studies, Texas A&M) offers a provocative discussion of black masculinity by critiquing both the social and academic treatment of killings of black men and boys in the US. The author forces readers to reevaluate the interpretations and stereotypes the media uses. He argues that gender studies has disadvantaged black men by imposing and supporting negative historical stereotypes and ignoring the diversity of black boys and men and by falsely aligning black masculinity with white masculinity. Curry contends that the academy continues to disadvantage work on black masculinity, not only by denying publication but also by disallowing the legitimacy of theories on the subject. The present book is an attempt to fill the gap by presenting a philosophical theory on black masculinity that Curry claims is nonexistent in philosophy. Because it requires background knowledge, the book is best suited to readers who have some familiarity with the subject. For them, it will serve as an excellent basis for discussions of the academic constructs of legitimacy in research. Many readers may find this book an uncomfortable read, and that is the very reason it should be read.
--L. L. Lovern, Valdosta State University