Offers a new framework for reading American literatures that critically links African American and Latinx traditions and struggles for liberation.Animating Black and Brown Liberation introduces a vital new tool for reading American literatures. Rooted in both ancient Egyptian ideas about life and cuttingedge theories of animacy or levels of aliveness this toolankhingenables Michael Datcher to examine the ways African American and Latinx literatures respond to and ultimately work to resist hegemonic forces of neoliberalism and statesponsored oppression. Weaving together close readings and politically informed philosophical reflection Datcher considers the work of writeractivists Toni Cade Bambara Cherre Moraga Gloria Anzalda June Jordan Salvador Plascencia and Ishmael Reed in light of theoretical interventions by Jane Bennett Mel Y. Chen Bruno Latour Michel Foucault Paulo Freire and Erica R. Edwards. How he asks can cultural production positively influence Black and Brown material conditions and mobilize collective action off the page How can artbased counterpublics provide a foundation for Black and Brown community organizing What emerges from Datchers innovative analysis is a frank assessment of the links between embodied experiences of racialization as well as a distinctive vision of twentieth and twentyfirstcentury American literature as a repository of emancipatory strategies with realworld applications.