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Published in:
How Was the Nerd or Geek Born? Read chapter Read first chapter

2018 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

9. How Is It Okay to Be a Black Nerd?

Author : Johnathan Charles Flowers

Published in: Age of the Geek

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

Flowers offers an insightful look at the figure of the black nerd in American popular culture and its relation to black masculinity. Focusing on four characters across multiple television and cinematic genres, the chapter discusses how the image of the black nerd serves to reinforce dominant images of black masculinity in popular culture. Flowers also explores the implications of the narrow range of representations of the black nerd for understanding the construction of black masculinity in African-American culture. “How Is It Okay to Be a Black Nerd?” concludes with a discussion of the lack of female representations of the black nerd in American popular culture, and its implications for the black community.

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Metadata
Title
How Is It Okay to Be a Black Nerd?
Author
Johnathan Charles Flowers
Copyright Year
2018
Book
Age of the Geek

Print ISBN: 978-3-319-65743-1

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-65744-8

Copyright Year: 2018

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65744-8_9