Ain't I an Anthropologist: Zora Neale Hurston Beyond the Literary Icon

by Jennifer L. Freeman Marshall

Iconic as a novelist and popular cultural figure, Zora Neale Hurston remains underappreciated as an anthropologist. Is it inevitable that Hurston’s literary authority should eclipse her anthropological authority? If not, what socio-cultural and institutional values and processes shape the different ways we read her work? Jennifer L. Freeman Marshall considers the polar receptions to Hurston’s two areas of achievement by examining the critical response to her work across both fields. Drawing on a wide range of readings, Freeman Marshall explores Hurston’s popular appeal as iconography, her elevation into the literary canon, her concurrent marginalization in anthropology despite her significant contributions, and her place within constructions of Black feminist literary traditions. Perceptive and original, Ain’t I an Anthropologist is an overdue reassessment of Zora Neale Hurston’s place in American cultural and intellectual life.

Genres: Anthropology, Nonfiction, Biography, History

272 pages, Hardcover

Published February 28, 2023

Reviews

[Emily Pickell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read Their Eyes in high school over 20 years ago and don’t remember much about it. I did read the book Barracoon that was published posthumously a few years ago. I had no idea Hurston was an anthropologist and absolutely loved thinking about her process and her interview sessions with Kossola. When I heard about this book I was intrigued. I recommend reading her main works first because even though the title mentions anthropology it is an academic book that focuses more on her literary works.

[Cardyn Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

from the last paragraph of the Epilogue:
..."Gods always behave like the people who make them"... For this reason, historical contextualization and a commitment to interdisciplinarity remain central to our project. As we produce transformative ways of reading individual and collective literary and cultural works in the development of intellectual histories...

http://blerdybingereader.blogspot.com...

[Carla Cherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thorough, well-researched exploration of Zora Neale Hurston's work and her place in the literary canon, and as an anthropologist. Reading this book has inspired me to re-read Hurston's books, as well as other luminary African American writers, such as June Jordan, Toni Cade Bambara, and Toni Morrison.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the most extensive research volume on Zora Neale Hurston in existence with references on all studies and fields regarding Black Americans available in one book. It is dry. It is wordy and seems duplicative at times, and a thorough study.

[Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely helpful in my research on her career and helped me immensely consolidating a large portion of the literary debate surrounding her work.