The Intelligence of Blackface

The Intelligence of Blackface is a bold, unsettling, and deeply research exploration of how Masks-literal and symbolic - shape culture, identity, and power. Steven Alladice traces the long shadow of Blackface from its theatrical origins to its modern echoes, revealing how performance, caricature, and racial mythology have been used to control, distort and define Black identity. Drawing on Dogon cosmology and African systems of knowledge, Alladice contrasts the sophistication of indigenous intelligence with the crude simplicity of racists imagery. Through this lenses. he exposes how societies create ＂outlaws＂ and ＂others＂ using masks to hide their own fears, desire and contradictions. Moving between folklore, anthropology performance studies and social critic, the book uncovers the coded messages imbedded in rituals, stereotypes and cultural narratives. Alladice shows how masks can both oppress and protect, conceal and reveal and understanding them is essential to understanding the world that we live in. Provocative, rigorous and richly layered, the Intelligence of Blackface challenges readers to confront the stories societies tell about race, power and humanity and the deeper truths those stories are designed to obscure.