Naming and Reclaiming

Abstract

This special issue of the Journal of African American Studies is an interdisciplinary collection of original research manuscripts, which contextualize Black girls and women’s experiences from Black feminist perspectives. Naming and Reclaiming seeks to achieve several goals: (1) discuss and critique intersectionality and the complexities of Black girls and women’s identities; (2) adopt a strength-based approach to exploring the assets, resiliency, resistance, and agency of Black girlhood and womanhood; and (3) draw upon interdisciplinary scholarship that reflects historical, sociological, psychological, and legal perspectives within African American Studies. The first section of the special issue consists of three articles that explore the representations of Black girls and women and their internalization and resistance of these representations. The second section relies on social science research to examine ways that Black women cope with daily gendered-racial oppression. We end our special issue with a Black feminist theoretical model designed to reclaim power for Black girls and women. Through this special issue, we decidedly focus on Black women’s resistance and agency with the hope of highlighting ways that Black girls and women attempt to successfully navigate a sociopolitical reality that places them at significant disadvantages economically, physically, educationally, and socially.