Every tub must sit on its own bottom: the philosophy and politics of Zora Neale Hurston

Intorduction: The reclamation of an intellectual life

Metaphors of self, language, and the will-to-power

"Every tub must sit on its own bottom": A philosophical world view

African American folklore as style, theme, and strategy

The folk preacher and folk sermon form

Politics, parody, power, and Moses, man of the mountain

Politics of self: Ambivalences, paradoxes, and ironies of race, color, sex, class, and gender

Conclusion: The essence of owning oneself.