Between violence and silence: Intersections of masculinity and race in contemporary United States men's writing

I examine the intersections of articulations of race and gender identity in writings by contemporary U.S. men. I also seek strategies for approaching ostensibly sexist or homophobic texts by men of color in ways which grasp how homophobia or sexism coexist with or are engendered by certain articulations of anti-racism, or conversely, how certain articulations of gender concerns help produce reactionary ideas about race.; The first chapter draws on critical legal theory and Marxist deconstructionist thought to assemble a framework through which to discuss the texts I have chosen. The second chapter examines how the articulation of Asian American identity in the works of Frank Chin, John Okada and Shawn Hsu Wong, while presenting itself as genderless, has a strong masculinist, if not sexist, bias which limits its value for Asian American women and homosexuals.; My third chapter looks at the work of the African American writer Charles Johnson. I consider the growing critical interest in Johnson work in the context of the conflicting interplay of discourses of feminism and male supremacy in his novels, and examine the relationship between this vision of gender and the conservatism of Johnson's articulation of race issues.; My fourth chapter adds the discourse of "perverse" sexuality more directly to the dissertation. I examine a possible countertradition of the "joto," or queer, in "canonized" Chicano novels from Jose Antonio Villareal to Arturo Islas. More specifically, I demonstrate through readings of Richard Rodriguez and Oscar Zeta Acosta, the interplay of homosocial sexual politics with Rodriguez and Acosta's respective conservative and revolutionary approaches to race. Finally, I consider to what degree male homosociality shortcircuits possible coalitions between race-based movements such as Brown Power and sex/gender-based movements like the Women's and Gay Liberation Movements.