A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Replenishing and Recycling an Exhausted Hi|story in Lydia R. Diamond’s Voyeurs de Venus
Authors: Ghasemi Mehdi
Publication year: 2019
Journal: Journal of Literary Studies
Volume: 35
Issue: 3
First page : 80
Last page: 93
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02564718.2019.1657284
Web address : https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02564718.2019.1657284
In this article, I offer an analysis of Lydia R. Diamond’s Voyeurs de Venus and argue that the replenishment of Saartjie Baartman’s hi|story by Diamond can provide alternative perspectives to that exhausted piece of hi|story. I demonstrate how recycling and replenishing Baartman’s hi|story helps the playwright to link the present to the past and make a comparison between the status of black women at different eras and areas. Since the play draws upon a strong feminist potential to interrogate the intersectional concerns of race, sex, class and gender, I also approach the play from the standpoints of intersectionality. I argue that intersectionality engenders five outcomes or ‘Penta Ps’, namely the promotion of white male scientists and white race, the privilege of whiteness, the perversion of the black female body and race, the profit of white masters, and the pleasure of white male spectators and owners.