“A Hundred Voices Crashing Together”: Ring Shout (2020), the U.S. Media, and Racism as Contagion
Connections between the media, racism, and violence are illuminated in a recent novella, historian P. Djèlí Clark’s Ring Shout, or, Hunting Ku Kluxes in the End Times (2020), through its unique combination of genre fiction elements. Blending dark fantasy, horror, and alternate history, the story pre...
Shranjeno v:
| izdano v: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/ejas, |
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| Glavni avtor: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Jezik: | Anglais |
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European journal of American studies
2026
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| Online dostop: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Izvleček: | Connections between the media, racism, and violence are illuminated in a recent novella, historian P. Djèlí Clark’s Ring Shout, or, Hunting Ku Kluxes in the End Times (2020), through its unique combination of genre fiction elements. Blending dark fantasy, horror, and alternate history, the story presents racism as a contagion capable of gradually hollowing out its hosts, leaving them empty husks driven by mob rage. Importantly, Clark´s critique illuminates the impact of an exploitative media apparatus upon social equalities. Utilizing fantasy and body horror tropes in a unique configuration, he presents a compelling, historically grounded text centered upon the relationship binding white supremacy, the media, and violence. As this article underscores, Ring Shout utilizes such tropes to illuminate the historical role of media in cultivating white violence and ensuring the continued marginalization of African Americans in the United States. |
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