Ann DuCile's "Skin Trade" (Book Note)

 

In "Skin Trade," DuCille presents a thought-provoking compilation of five essays: "Toy Theory: Black Barbie and the Deep Play of Difference," "Monster, She Wrote: Race and the Problem of Reading Gender-Wise," "The Occult of True Black Womanhood," "Discourse and Dat Course: Postcoloniality and Afrocentricity," and "The Blacker the Juice: O.J. Simpson and the Squeeze Play of Race." With the exception of the chapters on Barbie and the O.J. Simpson case, all chapters are expanded versions of previously published works.

 

The chapter "Toy Theory: Black Barbie and the Deep Play of Difference" delves into the intersection of culture and commerce. It concludes that mass production often overly influences racial identity in its pursuit of uniformity. DuCille raises questions about what dolls teach young girls and explores the contradiction between Barbie's purported representation and the self-destructive behavior it can inspire. She also critiques how mainstream society exploits this "icon of idealized femininity" to perpetuate simplistic notions of racial, ethnic, and gender differences.

 

In "Discourse and Dat Course: Postcoloniality and Afrocentricity," DuCille critically examines how identity politics has infiltrated office politics, particularly in English departments where postcolonial studies may be implicitly favored over African American studies. She deconstructs the notion of postcoloniality as truly inclusive or anti-imperialist. While both disciplines are framed as "resistance narratives" and ostensibly advocate for an "anti-imperialist agenda," DuCille argues that postcoloniality often functions as a universal master narrative that reinforces the European or Anglo-American center. She questions whether countries like the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand can be considered postcolonies when the colonial subjects are not the original inhabitants, but rather the European settlers and their descendants.

 

DuCille's essays are imbued with subtle wit, evident even in the afterword, "The More Bitter the Whine," where she anticipates criticisms of black feminist essentialism. By playfully inverting the title of Wallace Thurman's Harlem Renaissance novel "The Blacker the Berry," DuCille acknowledges her own project as a critical rejoinder to the enduring patterns of inequality.