Semi-mojo, or Shaft in Scarsdale: Michael Rogin and Comparative American Studies

Author: Lott, Eric

Source: Comparative American Studies, Volume 6, Number 1, March 2008 , pp. 85-91(7)

Publisher: Maney Publishing

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Abstract:

Michael Rogin's Blackface, White Noise (1996) brought the institutional racial unconscious of the entertainment industry into the light. Ten years on, and six years after the author's death, this essay celebrates its publication by looking at some of the ways the book helps illuminate cultural artefacts and productions from Joe Klein's roman à clef Primary Colors (1996) to the music of Steely Dan. Rogin's book is a reminder of the thorny social and cultural relations between Jewish-Americans and African-Americans that scholars sometimes too easily wish away.

Keywords: BLACKS; JEWS; RACE; HOLLYWOOD; CULTURE INDUSTRY

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1179/147757008X267196

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