Tipping on a Tightrope - Divas in African American Literature

When Black runway models began throwing phones and VH1's "Divas Live" riveted viewers, a new paradigm for Black women had fully evolved in the form of the Black Diva. Tracing the trajectory of the Diva figure from the Italian castrati to Ntozake Shange's Liliane : Resurrection of the Daughter suggests a way around staid and fixed stereotypes about Black womanhood. The Black Diva performs her demands as a quintessential act of survival in a hostile and racist world ; she is both a product of and a mark against the male gaze, Black and white.
Ultimately, Tipping on a Tightrope : Divas in African American Literature uses present popular culture incarnations of the Diva to detail her long relationship with Black American literary culture.