Title: Fade to Black: Isaac Julien’s cinema of desire
Year: 1991
Issue: 53
Cover image: British filmmaker Isaac Julien
POSITIONS
Of Culture, Commitment, and Construction: Reflections on African Literature — You claim to be the voice of the voiceless only to hear the shrill cries of the voiceless telling you to shut up. But such-at least according to this Nigerian novelist and critic-are the pleasures and pains of being an African writer today. Femi Ojo-Ade
UNDER REVIEW
Where Liberalism Stands — Anita Allen analyzes the feud between old-fashioned legal liberals and a new breed of legal leftists-and wishes a pax on both their houses.
The Contradictions of Cultural Studies — Benita Parry fingers the fissure of a house divided.
Burning Issues — Timothy C. Weiskel warns that the protection of the rainforests cannot be guaranteed by the populist politics of “empowerment.”
Anthropology Against Time — Johannes Fabian explains why his colleagues seldom have time on their hands.
Letters of Reference — V. Y. Mudimbe pronounces on the troubled marriage of literature and anthropology.
The Unkindness of Strangers — Julius Lester argues that “color-blind” liberals may be just plain blind.
Disorderly Woman — Feminist political theory is in a state of disorder, and Judith Butler wouldn’t want it any other way.
Dr. Schweitzer’s Racism — Ali Mazrui, himself a Schweitzer Professor of the Humanities, relates his difficulties with the good doctor’s Life and Thought.
In the Realm of the Censors — Ernest Larsen inspects the forces arrayed against the new multicultural art: the state censor, the market censor, and the self censor.
Cameras in Arms — Jose Piedra focuses on documentary filmmaking in Latin America.
Territories of the National Imagination: Intifada Observed — Through the spate of recent books on the subject, Ella Shohat explores the intifada as a war of representations.
Lebanon Agonistes — Jean Said Makdisi reflects on a chronicle of devastation.
IN FOCUS
Tailoring Democracy — Michael Dummett recommends voting procedures for a democratic South Africa.
Kenyatta and Mau Mau — Atieno Odhiambo reviews the debates over the Mau Mau War.
Narrow Margin — Lawrence Chua on Asian cinema as flavor of the month.
Jumbled Mirrors — Doris Sommer views the shifting kaleidoscope Hispanic women’s writing.
Democracy in Question — Renee Green votes on Group Materials’ “Democracy Project. ”
CONVERSATION
States of Desire — Cultural critic Bell Hooks and filmmaker Isaac Julien discuss the dangerous liaisons of eros and identity.