STRONGER THAN FICTION: LITERARY AND CULTURAL MERIT OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN AMERICAN CHRISTIAN FICTION

Abstract

My primary goals with this dissertation are to take a close look at how contemporary African American Christian fiction performs important literary and cultural functions and explore how these works reinforce or subvert perceptions of the contemporary African American Christian woman. The specific texts that I analyze are chosen from 1997-2007, the earliest time period of publication of contemporary African American Christian fiction as they set the tone for African American Christian fiction literary works that have been published since that time. The primary research question driving this project is whether contemporary African American Christian fiction has literary and cultural merit. Moreover, this dissertation explores how the complicated depictions of the African American woman in contemporary African American Christian fiction intersect and disrupt the boundaries between race, gender and religion. The overall focus is how, in doing so, these literary works reinforce what some could label a problematic contemporary African American Christian feminist ethos. I examine historical and cultural forces that led to the creation of this literature and how this literature reflects and, in a greater sense, reacts to those forces. My argument is that despite the best of intentions of the primarily female authors, in some instances, fall victim to patriarchal hegemonic forces in their depictions of contemporary African American Christian women. Though intended to be positive and empowering, the characterizations and themes of contemporary African American Christian fiction undermine the original intent of the literature to inspire contemporary African American Christian women.