For my final paper, I want to explore the life of the American-born French singer, dancer, and actress Josephine Baker. I'm interested in reception of African-American expatriates in Paris, the role of exoticism in the creation of international personalities, and how Baker manipulated her own star image for her benefit. I'm also interested in the contrast between the enthusiastic acceptance of Baker in France and the mostly indifferent response she garnered in the US and what that might have to do with the two countries differing opinions on race and African-Americans in particular.
I'm not yet exactly sure what I want to study about Baker because I just found out that Stanford Special Collections owns the archives of her biographer, Eugene Lerner, so I would like to wait until I have time to go in person to explore before settling on a topic.
Preliminary primary sources:
The Eugene Lerner archive at Stanford Special Collections
Les mémoirs de Joséphine Baker (by Josephine Baker)
The exotic Jospehine Baker (sound recording)
Preliminary secondary sources:
Josephine Baker in Art and Life: The Icon and the Image, by Bennetta Jules-Rosette
Josephine Baker and La Revue Nègre: Paul Colin's lithographs of Le tumulte noir in Paris, 1927, by Paul Colin
Josephine Baker: Image and Icon, edited by Olivia Lahs-Gonzales
Dear Paula,
ReplyDeleteThis is a fascinating topic. I particularly like your plan to focus on Josephine Baker as a lens on the broader topic of black expatriates in Paris. I also like the questions that you are raising about Baker's construction of her own image. This is a very rich topic -- as you mentioned in your post, the challenge will be deciding on the specific aspect of Baker's life that you will focus on.
This is the documentary that I mentioned:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggb_wGTvZoU
This documentary should provide useful background on the issues of agency and self-fashioning that interest you.
Good luck! You're off to a great start. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.
Very best,
Prof H