Longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award

"Powered by masterful writing and storytelling, A Mouth Is Always Muzzled is an instant classic that grapples with the essential questions for artists and all societies that profess to be democratic." --Sheryll Cashin, author of Loving: Interracial Intimacy in America and the Threat to White Supremacy

A meditation in the spirit of John Berger and bell hooks on art as protest, contemplation, and beauty in politically perilous times

As people consider how to respond to a resurgence of racist, xenophobic populism, A Mouth Is Always Muzzled tells an extraordinary story of the ways art brings hope in perilous times. Weaving disparate topics from sugar and British colonialism to attacks on free speech and Facebook activism and traveling a jagged path across the Americas, Africa, India, and Europe, Natalie Hopkinson, former culture writer for the Washington Post and The Root, argues that art is where the future is negotiated.

Part post-colonial manifesto, part history of British Caribbean, part exploration of art in the modern world, A Mouth Is Always Muzzled is a dazzling analysis of the insistent role of art in contemporary politics and life. In crafted, well-honed prose, Hopkinson knits narratives of culture warriors: painter Bernadette Persaud, poet Ruel Johnson, historian Walter Rodney, novelist John Berger, and provocative African American artist Kara Walker, whose homage to the sugar trade Sugar Sphinx electrified American audiences. A Mouth Is Always Muzzled is a moving meditation documenting the artistic legacy generated in response to white supremacy, brutality, domination, and oppression. In the tradition of Paul Gilroy, it is a cri de coeur for the significance of politically bold--even dangerous--art to all people and nations.

Author: Natalie Hopkinson
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: New Press
Published: 02/06/2018
Pages: 208
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.70w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9781620971246


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 11/06/2017
Kirkus Reviews 11/15/2017 pg. 154
Foreword 12/26/2017
Booklist 02/01/2018 pg. 18

About the Author
A former staff writer, editor, and culture critic at the Washington Post and The Root, Natalie Hopkinson is an assistant professor in Howard University's graduate program in communication, culture and media studies and a fellow at the Interactivity Foundation. The author of two critically acclaimed books, Go-Go Live and Deconstructing Tyrone (with Natalie Y. Moore), Hopkinson lives in Washington, D.C.