Date of Award
5-1-2003
Document Type
Thesis
Department
English
First Advisor
Christopher L. Couch
Abstract
In his essay "Criteria of Negro Art," the famous African-American author and critic WEB Du Bois wrote "I do not care a damn for any art that is not used for propaganda. But I do care when propaganda is confined to one side while the other is stripped and silent" (986). His statement reflected his belief that all art-whether it claimed exemption or not-was some form of propaganda. Though the "unmarked" text could pass as universal, it only did so through fitting the specific cultural norms of a certain class of a certain society at a certain time in history. "White" and "male" were default settings against which WEB Du Bois and his contemporaries had to fight in order to let their voices be heard.
Recommended Citation
Watkins, Alicia, "Songs of the South and the East: Disney and (Consumer) Culture (or, "Everybody Has a Laughing Place [and wherever it is, Disney owns it]")" (2003). Honors Projects and Presentations: Undergraduate. 227.
https://mosaic.messiah.edu/honors/227
