Blues Liberation

Abstract

This paper offers a critical narrative of the theoretical struggles in African American literary theories based on Houston A. Baker Jr.’s concept of “generational shift” which in turn originates from Thomas Kuhn’s theory of paradigm. The narrative begins with “Integrationist Poetics” of the late fifties and early sixties,which was then replaced by the Black Aesthetic of the late sixties and early seventies. _x000D_ In the late seventies, the “Reconstructionist Poetics” emerged to dominate the African American critical scene, while the Black Aesthetic began to lose its theoretical hegemony. The narrative seems to suggest an oedipal struggle in which the previous generation of critics were forced out of the scene as the result of paradigm shift. _x000D_ In his attempt at critical revisionism, Baker suggests the term “blues liberation” to describe the process in which an African American literary critic engages in critical struggles to gain the freedom of action that promises him/her the manifold range of theoretical persuasions and investigative approaches. S/he is then a blues _x000D_ critic who, though bound by institutional world of discourse, is free “to hypothesize and respect meanings that have previously been ‘unthinkable.’” Apart from recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of Baker’s notion of blues liberation, this paper also explores the cultural logic upon which his project of periodizing African _x000D_ American literary criticism is based. Michel Foucault’s concept of “cultural totalities” and Fredric Jameson’s idea of “total system” are deployed to explain away Baker’s oversimplifying chronology of African American critical ndustries. _x000D_ Blues liberation does not aim at offering another paradigm in African American criticism. It involves a liberation from any dominant critical discourse, especially one which is informed by parochial nationalism or forms of essentialism. This is also a process in which a black critic is inspired to explore dimensions of African American _x000D_ expressive culture that has long been ignored or repressed.