哈莱姆文艺复兴时期非裔女性小说中的非裔美妆文化研究

外国文学研究 ›› 2019, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (4): 119-127.

哈莱姆文艺复兴时期非裔女性小说中的非裔美妆文化研究

谢梅

出版日期:2019-08-25 发布日期:2022-05-18
作者简介:谢梅,华中师范大学文学院博士生,云南师范大学外国语学院讲师,主要研究方向为美国非裔文学。
基金资助:
云南省哲学社会科学规划项目“非裔美国女性小说文化记忆和家园建构研究”（QN2018039）

Cosmetic Culture in African American Women Novels during the Harlem Renaissance

Xie Mei

Online:2019-08-25 Published:2022-05-18
About author:Xie Mei is a PhD candidate at the School of Literature, Central China Normal University (Wuhan 430079, China), and a lecturer at the School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Yunnan Normal University (Kunming 650500, China). Her research focuses on African American literature. Email: 61412118@qq.com
Supported by:
“Cultural Memory and Home Construction in African American Women Novels” (QN2018039),sponsored by Social Science Fund of Yunnan Province

摘要/Abstract

内容摘要： 都市生活构成了美国哈莱姆文艺复兴时期非裔女性小说的“风景线”,其中极具女性性别特征的美妆消费、美妆仪式展现了黑白文化在都市空间的互动与融合,美妆书写蕴含着哈莱姆文艺复兴时期女性小说致力于塑造新黑人女性形象的创作动机。主流社会的大众消费文化和非裔女性塑造城市化新形象的美妆需求一起推动了非裔美妆文化的产生,广告则为它的迅猛发展起到了重要宣传作用。非裔美妆文化带来的影响主要包括两方面：一方面,非裔女性迎合消费主义文化盛行的时代潮流,开启了主动参与时尚文化生产之路,美妆呈现的身体意识与身体美学符合主流社会期待,为她们提供了更好的就业、社交、婚姻等生存机遇;另一方面,非裔社区流行的美妆文化明显呈现出“以白为美”的白人审美标准,形成了与“以黑为美”的黑人种族审美标准之间的冲突,造成了非裔女性的“黑人性”认同危机。

关键词: 哈莱姆文艺复兴, 非裔女性小说, 非裔美妆文化, “黑人性”, 文化认同

Abstract: The representation of urban life is a highlight in African American women novels during the Harlem Renaissance. Cosmetic consumption and rituals, which fully embodied the unique feminine traits, exemplified the interaction and integration between African American culture and the mainstream culture in cities. What the writing of cosmetics connotes is these writers' creative impulse to portray a new image of the Black woman in their novels. It is the mass consumer culture and the African American women's desire for a new urbanized image through cosmetics that generated the cosmetic culture among African Americans. Also, advertisement played a key promotional role for its rapid development. The African American cosmetic culture had a two-fold impact. On the one hand, African American women followed the popular trend in the culture of consumerism and took an active part in the production of fashion industry because they learned that the use of cosmetic products could enhance their body consciousness and soma aesthetics, which in turn would help them meet the expectation of the mainstream society and get more opportunities for employment, social life and marriage. On the other hand, the cosmetic culture prevailing within the African American community clearly adhered to the “white is beautiful” aesthetic criteria of the white America, contradicting the “black is beautiful” belief among African Americans, and creating an identity crisis for African American women who tried to come to terms with their “blackness”.

Key words: Harlem Renaissance, African American women novels, African American cosmetic culture, Blackness, cultural identity

谢梅. 哈莱姆文艺复兴时期非裔女性小说中的非裔美妆文化研究[J]. 外国文学研究, 2019, 41(4): 119-127.

Xie Mei. Cosmetic Culture in African American Women Novels during the Harlem Renaissance[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2019, 41(4): 119-127.

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