Capitalist Modernity, Dissident Metaphors

Capitalist Modernity, Dissident Metaphors analyzes expressive commonalities across dissident cultures in the contemporary transatlantic.

This book coheres around the shared use of subversive metaphors in Africa and the Americas, offering a close study of selected texts from Nigeria, Peru, and the United States. Montesano articulates his view of texts as speech-producing social actors, engaging racial capitalist theory as an essential context for his global comparative analysis.

Through readings of works by James Baldwin, Joy Harjo, Ralph Ellison, Alonso Cueto, Ogaga Ifowodo, and Sonia Sanchez in collaboration with Sweet Honey in the Rock, the project investigates the political significance of subversive arts on the one hand, and the mediated nature of their impact on the other hand.

In its scrutiny of literature’s capacities and its constraints within the political sphere, this book helps artists, educators, and general readers make better use of its powers.