International Journal of Gender & Women's Studies

A Study of Womanism in Suzan-Lori Parks’s The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World
Mehdi Ghasemi

Abstract
I approach Suzan-Lori Parks‟s play The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World from the perspectives of womanism. I show how Parks deemphasizes the male|female dichotomy in order to create a convincing portrayal of African American women who can function as discursive and trustworthy partners for their men in the movement. I also argue that this approach helps the playwright to show how the trust of African American men in their women and their cooperation can help them build a strong nation together and transcend their race. To this end, I will draw upon a range of theories of womanism to briefly discuss the controversies surrounding the definition of womanism and show how the play under study to a large extent coheres to one of the propositions that Alice Walker has provided of womanism to utter the concerns of African American women and at the same time foster reconciliation, unity and solidarity between them and their men.

Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/ijgws.v5n2a12