signifyin’

sociology

Learn about this topic in these articles:

work of Gates

  • Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
    In Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

    Gates developed the notion of signifyin’ in Figures in Black: Words, Signs, and the “Racial” Self (1987) and The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism (1988). Signifyin’ is the practice of representing an idea indirectly, through a commentary that is often humourous, boastful, insulting, or provocative. Gates argued…

    Read More