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In the context of the ongoing crisis in literary criticism, The Social Imperative reminds us that while literature will never by itself change the world, it remains a powerful tool and important actor in the ongoing struggle to imagine better ways to be human and free. Figuring the relationship between reader and text as a type of friendship, the book elaborates the social-psychological concept of schema to show that our multiple social contexts affect what we perceive and how we feel when we read. Championing and modeling a kind of close reading that attends to how literature reflects, promotes, and contests pervasive sociocultural ideas about race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, Paula M. L. Moya demonstrates the power of works of literature by writers such as Junot Diaz, Toni Morrison, and Helena Maria Viramontes to alter perceptions and reshape cultural imaginaries. Insofar as literary fiction is a unique form of engagement with weighty social problems, it matters not only which specific works of literature we read and teach, but also how we read them, and with whom. This is what constitutes the social imperative of literature.

American fiction --- Race in literature. --- American literature --- History and criticism. --- Social aspects. --- History and criticism --- Social aspects --- Race in literature --- Morrison, Toni --- Diaz, Junot --- Criticism and interpretation --- Viramontes, Helena Maria --- Muñoz, Manuel

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"Identity" is one of the most hotly debated topics in literary theory and cultural studies. This bold and groundbreaking collection of ten essays argues that identity is not just socially constructed but has real epistemic and political consequences for how people experience the world. Advocating a "postpositivist realist" approach to identity, the essays examine the ways in which theory, politics, and activism clash with or complement each other, providing an alternative to the widely influential postmodernist understandings of identity. Although theoretical in orientation, this dynamic collection deals with specific social groups--Chicanas/os, African Americans, gay men and lesbians, Asian Americans, and others--and concrete social issues directly related to race, ethnicity, sexuality, epistemology, and political resistance. Satya Mohanty's brilliant exegesis of Toni Morrison's Beloved serves as a launching pad for the collection. The essays that follow, written by prominent and up-and-coming scholars, address a range of topics--from the writings of Cherrie Moraga, Franz Fanon, Joy Kogawa, and Michael Nava to the controversy surrounding racial program housing on college campuses--and work toward a truly interdisciplinary approach to identity.

Group identity. --- Social perception. --- Postmodernism. --- Post-modernism --- Postmodernism (Philosophy) --- Arts, Modern --- Avant-garde (Aesthetics) --- Modernism (Art) --- Philosophy, Modern --- Post-postmodernism --- Cognition, Social --- Interpersonal perception --- Social cognition --- Interpersonal relations --- Perception --- Social cognitive theory --- Collective identity --- Community identity --- Cultural identity --- Social identity --- Identity (Psychology) --- Social psychology --- Collective memory --- Primary groups

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Religious studies --- Sociology of religion