{"product_id":"the-souths-in-her-black-women-writers-and-choreographers-and-the-poetics-of-transmutation-9780231219679","title":"The Souths in Her: Black Women Writers and Choreographers and the Poetics of Transmutation","description":"\u003cp\u003eSince the Middle Passage, the intellectual and physical freedom of Black women in the United States and the Caribbean has been constrained. Yet Black women writers, artists, choreographers, and performers have contested pervasive political, cultural, and discursive silencing by drawing on the traditions and creative visions of multiple Souths: the Southern United States and the Caribbean, as well as Africa. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Souths in Her\u003c\/i\u003e--a phrase borrowed from Ntozake Shange--Nicole M. Morris Johnson shows how key Black women artists transformed the enclosing narrative frames imposed on them, developing new forms of creative expression informed by the lived experiences and submerged histories of women across the Africana southern world. She analyzes the intertwined relationship between movement and writing in the works of Zora Neale Hurston, Katherine Dunham, Dianne McIntyre, Maryse Condé, and Shange, among others. Morris Johnson demonstrates that although the central role of motion reinforced perceptions of primitivity that relegated Black women and the South to a space outside modernity, it was in fact crucial to their formal innovations. For these writers and choreographers, unexpected encounters with unfamiliar traditions and creative visions of multiple Souths catalyzed formal experimentation and movements for liberation. Considering the violence routinely inflicted on Black women alongside their artistic innovations, this book reveals a transmuted South that is rich in techniques for weaving liberatory works. Illuminating Black women's singular contributions to Black modernity, \u003ci\u003eThe Souths in Her\u003c\/i\u003e offers new frames for understanding their embodied and textual creative expression.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Nicole M. Morris Johnson\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Columbia University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/13\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSeries:\u003c\/b\u003e Black Lives in the Diaspora: Past \/ Present \/ Future\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.18lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.75d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780231219679","brand":"Columbia University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45133415907465,"sku":"9780231219679","price":140.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0636\/9240\/6921\/files\/img_0f78cb46-7121-45e6-9abb-6837eb1a98b5.jpg?v=1767678163","url":"https:\/\/sonsanddaughtersbooks.com\/products\/the-souths-in-her-black-women-writers-and-choreographers-and-the-poetics-of-transmutation-9780231219679","provider":"Sons and Daughters Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}