Beauty, or All about Black Feminist Theory's Mothers

Abstract

This chapter argues that much of the work of staying close to loss—what Black feminist beautiful writing has aspired to do—has required staying close to mothers. Black feminists often narrate loss through the figure of Black mothers, including lost Black mothers, grieving Black mothers, lost Black motherlands, the losses that black mothers attempt to mitigate through ordinary practices of tenderness and care, and the losses that attend to—and are imagined to attend to—Black maternal life in a moment where Black mothers and grief have become synonymous. In this opening chapter, I trace the host of ways that Black feminists have contended with loss by thinking about and with mothers.