The Evolution of Blackness: From Shakespeare to Stan Lee

Abstract

The visual representation of black Africans by European and American artists and writers has been undergoing continuous changes, as it was affected by the evolving context and ideas regarding Africa and its inhabitants. The portrayals of black Africans, both in art and literature, reflected the prejudices and stereotypes which were present in the artists’ societies, so that an analysis of their works might provide interesting insights on how Europeans and Americans perceived the “other”. On the other hand, literary and artistic works produced by African themselves would present different interpretations of their own identities and they were their means of self-assertion; as a matter of fact, literature and art would allow them to express their feelings independently. The aim of this thesis is to explore how black Africans have been portrayed in different manners from the seventeenth century, when the contact between different culture caused Africans to appear more frequently in the imaginary of Europeans, to the twentieth century, when the developing of new literary mediums as comic books allowed to unify art and literature. It will take into consideration different themes as race and identity, trying to understand how they changed through the centuries.