Iconic as a novelist and popular cultural figure, Zora Neale Hurston remains underappreciated as an anthropologist. Is it inevitable that Hurston's literary authority should eclipse her anthropological authority? If not, what socio-cultural and institutional values and processes shape the different ways we read her work? Jennifer L. Freeman Marshall considers the polar receptions to Hurston's two areas of achievement by examining the critical response to her work across both fields. Drawing on a wide range of readings, Freeman Marshall explores Hurston's popular appeal as iconography, her elevation into the literary canon, her concurrent marginalization in anthropology despite her significant contributions, and her place within constructions of Black feminist literary traditions.
Perceptive and original, Ain't I an Anthropologist is an overdue reassessment of Zora Neale Hurston's place in American cultural and intellectual life.
|Acknowledgments
Introduction: "Twice as Much Praise or Twice as Much Blame"
On Firsts, Foremothers, and "The Walker Effect"
Signifying "Texts": The Race for Hurston
Deconstructing an Icon: Tradition and Authority
"Ain't I an Anthropologist?"
Mules and Men: "Negro folklore [. . .] is still in the making"
The author arrives at no conclusion"? Reading Tell My Horse Notes
Works Cited
Index
|"As the public, scholars, writers, and creatives continue to engage with Hurston through ongoing book releases, studies, documentaries, and festivals, Freeman Marshall's work provides an important intervention that calls us to think about how we reconstruct and deploy Hurston as not only a talented storyteller and incisive ethnographer but also a consummate intellectual." — Another Chicago
"Freeman Marshall makes clear that Hurston's reputation as an anthropologist has been undermined by the glamour of her rediscovery and subsequent literary 'canonization' . . . . Freeman Marshall also compellingly argues that 'Hurston's anthropological work has not been more fully recognized within the field of anthropology in part due to the marginalization of American folklore and in, in particular, African American folklore within the discipline.' Hopefully, with this new study, Hurston's contributions to anthropology will finally be recognized." — Southern Review of Books
"Doomed to obscurity, Zora Neale Hurston was then resurrected as a 'founding mother' of Black literature and folklore. Yet her pioneering work in African diaspora ethnography and anthropology, especially her work in Haiti, remains little-known. . . . Marshall concludes that Hurston's refusal to be defined as 'tragically colored' formed her genius as she 'embraces . . . the right to feel and be herself, idiosyncratic and sometimes puzzling, like any member of the human race.'" — Booklist starred review
| Jennifer L. Freeman Marshall is an associate professor in the Department of English and Interdisciplinary Studies at Purdue University.

Freeman Marshall, Jennifer L.

United States, United States of America

New Black Studies Ser, Champaign, 2023

Urbana, Chicago; Springfield, 2023

"Iconic as a novelist and popular cultural figure, Zora Neale Hurston remains underappreciated as an anthropologist. Is it inevitable that Hurston's literary authority should eclipse her anthropological authority? If not, what sociocultural and institutional values and processes shape the different ways we read her work? Jennifer L. Freeman Marshall considers the polar receptions to two of Hurston's areas of achievement by examining the critical response to her work across both fields. Drawing on a wide range of readings, Freeman Marshall explores Hurston's popular appeal as iconography, her elevation into the literary canon, her concurrent marginalization in anthropology despite her significant contributions, and her place within constructions of Black feminist literary traditions. Perceptive and original, Ain't I an Anthropologist is a long-awaited reassessment of Zora Neale Hurston's place in American cultural and intellectual life"-- Provided by publisher.

Iconic as a novelist and popular cultural figure, Zora NealeHurston remains underappreciated as an anthropologist. Is itinevitable that Hurston's literary authority should eclipse heranthropological authority? If not, what socio-cultural andinstitutional values and processes shape the different ways we readher work? Jennifer L. Freeman Marshall considers the polarreceptions to Hurston's two areas of achievement by examining thecritical response to her work across both fields. Drawing on a widerange of readings, Freeman Marshall explores Hurston's popularappeal as iconography, her elevation into the literary canon, herconcurrent marginalization in anthropology despite her significantcontributions, and her place within constructions of Black feministliterary traditions. <p>Perceptive and original, <em>Ain't I an Anthropologist</em> isan overdue reassessment of Zora Neale Hurston's place in Americancultural and intellectual life.</p>

2025-06-30