This article analyzes how contemporary multicultural authors and film directors use magical realism to aid their audience in understanding worlds which will likely be foreign to them. access to foreign, often bizarre worlds.  It uses "Daughters of the Dust" as an example of how visual and audio tracks can be combined to create a magical-realistic effect.

Alexander, K.  "Daughters of the Dust: Julie Dash Talks About African American Women's Cinema and Images from Her Film." Sight and Sound 3:9 (Sept 1993) p.20-22.

In this interview, Julie Dash talks with Sight and Sound about "Daughters of the Dust."  The conversation includes such topics as the film's celebration of  the role of women in African American culture at the turn of the century; its departure from other films by black directors, most of which are male oriented and urban in their setting; and the comparison between the societal roles of African-American women to that of women in the West African nations from which they were taken. Sight and Sound asks Dash to respond to some critics' dismissal of the film's historical and cultural value because of its visual appeal; she responds that black films can be both aesthetically pleasing and socially relevant.

Brouwer, Joel R.  "Repositioning: Center and Margin in Julie Dash's 'Daughters of the Dust.'" African American Review 29:1(Spring, 1995) p.5-17.

This article examines the narrative technique of "Daughters of the Dust" and recounts Dash's financial struggle to make the film.  Because of its very theme, the film turns away from typical Hollywood storytelling in favor of a adopting narrative technique based on the African Griot's oral tradition.

Other books
Curry, Renee R.  "Daughters of the Dust, the White Woman Viewer, and the Unborn Child." In: Teaching What You're Not: Identity Politics in Higher Education, edited by Katherine J. Mayberry. pp: 335-56. New York: New York University Press,c1996.

Dash, Julie with Toni Cade Bambara and bell hooks.  Daughters of the Dust: The Making of an African American Woman's Film.  New York: New Press, 1992.

This interview, published at The Sundance Institute's web site, provides Julie Dash's own explanations as to why she chose to use the thick Gullah dialect in "Daughters of the Dust" and also some insight into her strategies as a maker of films with "provocative themes and unfamiliar characters."

Aull, Dr. Felice.  "Daughters of the Dust."  Online; Internet.  available at http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/lit-med/lit-med-db/webdocs/webfilms/daughters.of.the.18-film-.html.

This webpage is part of New York University's Film Annotation database, and offers critical interpretation of the film.  Much of the commentary focuses on the languid nature of the plot and the apparently deliberate absence of specific action in favor of a more emotional tension that builds as the film progresses and is ultimately relieved by choices made in the final scenes.

This lecture was part of The College of New Jersey's Women's History Month celebration in 1997.  After talking briefly about her career and her then-current projects, Ms. Dash opened the floor to audience questions and discussed such issues as the difficulty finding funding for projects like "Daughters of the Dust" because Hollywood big-wigs don't think they will have an audience, or because they're simply afraid to fund films that will challenge the status quo.  Provocative films make Hollywood nervous, but Ms. Dash refused to be discouraged and continued her pursuit of filmmaking "from the culture of women."