Concealed weapons: Contemporary black women's short stories as agents of social change, 1960s to the present

My dissertation for the PH.D. in American Studies here at the State University of New York at Buffalo, takes the form of five critical essays accompanied by a creative component. In recognition of the role of Black women writers as activists, I argue that the short stories of contemporary African American women writers, from the 1960s to the present, constitute a body of literature which is grounded in Black oral traditions, Black women's culture and activism. I identify and analyze this body of short stories as a distinct literary tradition; and examine their effectiveness as agents of social change. The title of my dissertation is, "Concealed Weapons: Contemporary Black Women's Short Stories As Agents of Social Change, 1960s to the Present." Thus, my dissertation (a) provides reflection upon the themes in slave narratives and nineteenth century writings by African American women as the predecessors of themes found in contemporary Black women's short stories; (b) examines Black women's language and language forms as overt and covert resistance critical to Black women's culture; (c) identifies the Black oral tradition as the matrix of Black women's oral narratives, by analyzing oral histories of specific Black women living in Buffalo, to establish links between the shared themes of our lives and those that surface in contemporary Black women's short stories; (d) develops criteria and methodologies for assessing contemporary Black women's short stories as agents of social change; and (e) explores future implications of and applications for Black women's short stories as history, social, and cultural theory. The creative component of this dissertation consists of a collection of my own short stories, as further examples of my place within the tradition of Black women short story writers, as both an inheritor and transmitter of this body of work.

As a result of writing this dissertation, I expect to extend the critical knowledge of and understanding of Black women's short stories as history and as literature. By wedding the creative and scholarly processes, I expect to create a multi-disciplinary work which will be unique in its contribution to the growing bodies of African American history and literature, American literature, Women's Studies, Anthropology, and American Studies.