In View of the Tradition

Roderick A. Ferguson is the William Robertson Coe Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and American Studies at Yale University. He is the author of One-Dimensional Queer, We Demand: The University and Student Protests, The Reorder of Things: The University and Its Pedagogies of Minority Difference, and Aberrations in Black: Toward a Queer of Color Critique.

• Preface ixIntroduction: The Fool, the Trickster, and the Power of Áshe 11 The Shit, the World, and Their Remaking: Noah Purifoy 152 Civilizing Missions and The Hampton Project: Carrie Mae Weems 343 The Sea as History and Prophecy: Hew Locke, John Akomfrah, Fabrice Monteiro 614 Mutations of Militarism and War: Wangechi Mutu 84Conclusion: To Make Things Happen 107Acknowledgments 121Notes 123Bibliography 141

"In View of the Tradition explores the connection between art, history and the Black radical tradition. These precise accounts framing each artwork track the inevitable connections between our global historical realities and our cultural production. Ferguson brilliantly connects the dots by guiding the gaze of the viewer back through the days, hours, legislation, policies, protests, wars, resilience and devastations that inform the stunning works produced by artists such as Stephen Hayes, Noah Purifoy, Frances Benjamin Johnson, Fabrice Monteiro, Carrie Mae Weems, Hew Locke, John Akomfrah, Wangechi Mutu and Cauleen Smith, among others. The cultural significance of this book cannot be overstated in a time when some might question what it is all for. In View of the Tradition is the gift of memory for future artmaking." - Claudia Rankine "In In View of the Tradition, Roderick A. Ferguson reclaims Black art from the constraints of the market, framing it instead as a vital vessel for history, warning, and radical inspiration. By putting contemporary visual practices in conversation with Black radical thought – from the ruins of Watts to the mutations of global militarism – Ferguson demonstrates how our work serves as a divine force, or áshe, capable of revitalizing political agency. This text is an essential call for us to remain immersed in our collective intellectual traditions, ensuring that the Black radical imagination remains a living, transformative project in the face of modern emergencies." - Lyle Ashton Harris "Contributing to studies of the afterlife of slavery as well as its connected ecologies, In View of the Tradition is a stunning work of research and writing. A vital and necessary addition to the field of Black Studies, Visual Culture Studies and Transatlantic Studies." - Kimberly Juanita Brown, author of Black Elegies: Meditations on the Art of Mourning