(Mis)Recognition of Post-blackness through Crossings in Danzy Senna’s Caucasia

Post-blackness emerged as a reaction against the commonly old-fashioned and restrictive representation of blackness to enhance for a more fluid, flexible and fruitful representation of blackness. It is a shifting discourse for securing a multidimensional consideration of black identity that most contemporary African American women aspire to attain. Nevertheless, the pernicious influences of black authenticity and racial essentialism cast serious doubts on the premises of post-black rhetoric and complicate the recognition of post-black identity for African American women within and across geo-racial borders. Danzy Senna is one of the post-soul writers who shed light on this critical problem in her first novel Caucasia. She depicts the tiring journey of her female protagonist Birdie Lee who keeps crossing color and geographical borders in an endeavor to resist the grips of black authenticity and racial invisibility and to recognize the fluid form of post-black identity. The possibility of Birdie's (mis)recognition of post-black identity throughout her crossing journey is the central issue at stake. The present paper tends to illustrate the dilemma of her migrating female protagonist who is torn between the pressure of authentic blackness and the desire for post-blackness, between the influence of invisible blackness and the quest for black visibility. Interestingly, it investigates the extent to which she succeeds in recognizing a space of post-blackness through crossing practices.