Centering Black Women: A Black Feminist Critique of Mainstream Anthropology from the Margins of an HBCU

Abstract

Anthropology must urgently move away from the mainstream canon that excludes the groundbreaking work of Black women anthropologists. I argue that a Historically Black College for women offers a unique site in which one can center Black women in anthropology in novel ways. I offer specific examples of texts that I teach by Black women authors within and beyond anthropology, and the pedagogical strategies I use to challenge students to re(write) anthropology from the margins.