“Serious Laughter” as a Philosophy of Black Female Survival

This paper examines Morrison’s representation of black female laughter in Jazz from the perspective of sound cultural studies. Despite a non-voice, black female laughter is a central sound that Morrison gives a multifaceted representation throughout Jazz. Despite primarily as a private sound from the rural south, black female laughter gradually evolves into a public, modern sound in the black urban life. In a sense, it becomes a sound that is both private and public, natural and cultural, traditional and modern——a sound which transcends boundaries in time and space, as well as those in race, gender, and class.