The Restoration of Sexual Identity for Black Women: Ntozake Shange

This paper aims to examine the Black female body not as evidence of sacrifice, but as an aesthetic structure to enable them to reshape their identity and communal healing. To this end, this paper first attempts to offer a new perspective on the stereotyed conceptions of the Black female body through the analysis of Ntozake Shange’s dance poem. Historically, the body of Black women has been defined by the negative gaze of the Other and as an object of male desire under societal perceptions. As a result, the body of Black women has been trapped in the mirror of the Other due to a lack of subjective consciousness. In contrast, Shange’s dance poem puts the Black female body not as an ugly and inferior space, but, rather the aesthetic field of expression having self-recognition. It is the pathway for expressing their unspeakable emotions, repressed desire, and their instinctive rhythm and sensibility. Ultimately, this study suggests that the discourse of the body and sexuality for Black women should be redefined and reshaped through the ongoing exploration and true dialogue within American society.