Black Feminist Research Articles

A Black Feminist Study of Religion: Inheriting Victor Anderson’s Black Religious and Cultural Criticism

ABSTRACT In this article, I outline what Kristie Dotson refers to as an “inheritance map” for the epistemological insights and critical moves in Victor Anderson’s Beyond Ontological Blackness: An Essay on African American Religious and Cultural Criticism (1995). I establish that Beyond Ontological Blackness represents what Stuart Hall calls a significant break – “where old lines of thought are disrupted, older constellations displaced, and elements, old and new, are regrouped around a different set of premises and themes” 1 1 Hall, “Cultural Studies." – and thusly, a new direction in the study of black 2 2 In my current writing projects (post 2019) I use Black (rather than black) and white for political reasons. Full stop. I deploy a “b” when engaging oppression, however. Still, making distinctions in this essay between what should have a “B” (for example, Black women, church, students, presence, subject, religion, experience, etc.) and what should have a “b” (for example, antiblack, ontological blackness, symbolic blackness, black heroic cultural genius, black crisis, etc.) proved extremely difficult. Most challenging was turning my powerful “B” into a “b” throughout for clarity and consistency. religion and theology 3 3 This is not slippage. I distinguish between black theology and the study of black religion at length in Jezebel Unhinged: Loosing the Black Female Body in Religion and Culture (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2018). : black religion and culture studies. The latter of which makes room for a black feminist study of religion.

Black women’s quest for identity: A critical Study of Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun

Tracing the history of black feminism, it becomes evident that the social construction of racism, sexism and classism was the driving force behind the widespread violence and discrimination against black women. They are found searching and struggling to attain their identity in this patriarchal world. Black feminist thought leads to certain ideas that clarify a standpoint of and for black women. Black feminist perspectives focus on the social domination on the basis of gender, race and class oppression. These oppressions are densely interwoven into social structures and work collectively to define the history of the lives of Black women in America and other coloured women worldwide. It takes us back to the era of United States slavery during which period, a societal hierarchy was established, according to which White men were supposed to be at the top, White women next, followed by Black men and finally, at the bottom were placed Black women. Black feminists were critical of the view that suggests that black women must identify as either black or women. The present paper looks at Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun from a black feminist viewpoint. It discusses position of a woman in male dominated society and her struggle for identity. It unfolds the saga of suffering and silencing of a black woman, which pervades the black women writings. It is depicted that black women have to face the unique challenging task of fighting for black liberation and gender equality simultaneously. The play effectively unthreads the history of African American women’s lives and their quest for identity in African American society. Issues of masculinity and femininity are deeply woven in this play. Women in this play present a microcosm of society; they are treated as second class citizens in society. Hansberry has depicted through her play the superiority that men pose over women. The glimpse of patriarchal dominance is visible throughout the play through different male characters. It further focuses on the value of the individual women’s identity and women’s right and freedom to construct their own separate identities rather than having them imposed against their wishes. It delineates how African American Women try to speak out against oppression and create a sense of individual identity in the face of silence and absence.

Black Feminists on Television in the 1970s

In the mid 1970s Black women, and Black feminists in particular, were increasingly visible on television, as they took positions as broadcast journalists and news anchors; starred in dramas and situation comedies, such as Good Times; and appeared as experts on an array of public affairs programs, including shows developed by Black Power leaders and feminists. This essay examines this rise and the constraints on it by analyzing Black feminists’ television activism and their appearances on three programs in the 1970s: two feminist public affairs programs that both aired on PBS stations, Woman (1973–1977) and Woman Alive! (1974, 1975, 1977); and For You Black Woman (1977–1985), a syndicated talk show which was not directly linked to any political movement but was pioneering because it was the first talk show and “public service” program addressed to Black women. Feminist programs—Woman and Woman Alive!—asserted a sisterhood based on gender oppression and encouraged Black women to join it, but they did not consistently address the intersection of race and gender. On the other hand, although For You Black Woman was a more conventional talk show for women, as it focused more on parenting, beauty, and fashion, not feminist or Black Power politics, the show tailored these topics to Black women, discussed race and gender in the distinctive experiences of Black women, and created space for Black women to be experts on a variety of topics. The least explicitly politically program of this triad, For You Black Woman provided a potent political space for Black feminism.

The Love Jones Cohort: Single and Living Alone (SALA) by Choice, Circumstance or Both? Is Marriage the Option?

This article centers on the Love Jones Cohort, revealing the ways in which Black women understand and navigate their single status. The term "Love Jones Cohort" originates from the movie Love Jones (1997) and incorporates the common demographic term "cohort", which refers to a band of people. Characters in Love Jones are young, educated, Black professionals, who have never been married, are child-free, and live alone or with unmarried non-romantic friends. Following this movies' character demographics, this study draws from a Black feminist and intersectional analytical framework; and engages singlehood scholarship and aspects of politics of respectability through semi–structured interviews with Black women in the Love Jones Cohort. The two overarching research questions include: how do Black American women in the Love Jones Cohort view their single and living alone (SALA) status (choice, circumstance, or both); and in what ways do these Black women navigate their SALA status? Two main implications arise from this study. First, Black women's membership in the Love Jones Cohort can be due to choices, circumstances, or in many cases a combination of the two. Thus, to make judgments of their status based solely on individual behavior and without looking to structural context is shortsighted. Second, although Black women in the Love Jones Cohort might face mental health and well-being challenges, they have developed a variety of strategies prioritizing their safety.

Inception of Life on the Pendulum of Death: Common Paradigms and Uncommon Narratives on the Polemics between Birthers and Abortionists

Obvious crevices of digression are discernible in the ongoing discourses on conception, women and reproductive rights, and abortion. Against this backdrop, this paper sets out to explore existing thoughts on the bio-physiological processes of conception and pregnancy, epigenetics, and the impact of trauma on the continuum of human psychological development with a view to accentuating the critical intersection of the emerging discourses. By dissecting the conflated and intricate leanings on the opposite sides of the treatise, the paper goes beyond the current paradigm that merely proffers a time frame at which it might be appropriate to legitimize termination of pregnancy (in other words, abort a baby without attracting punitive attention of the state) and advance more creative theorizing, which raises the question of power balance and discipline. Ours is a discussion paper, covering a methodical synopsis of discourses, definitions, aims, philosophical leanings and content analysis of major postulations, and highlights of their operational intricacies. The paper hypothesized that a single-cell blastocyst is a developing human being and engaging discourses on power and discipline, it further explored the influences of epigenetics on lifespan development, and how this impinges on women’s right over their reproductive bodies. The paper adopts the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), and black feminist thought to deconstruct and trouble the essentialized notion of women’s reproductive rights, which are fundamentally colonial, and western in nature. Using qualitative content analysis of existing secondary materials, we foreground the paradigm shifts on the contended topic. By so doing, the paper mapped out a more flexible direction for understanding the disequilibrium of power on the core premises of the argument divides. Our paper provides uncluttered lenses for scrutinizing the socio-medical procedures involving women’s right to their procreative bodies on one hand, and the unborn babies’ choice of life on the other, thus creating a broader and more objective rostrum for further discussion and scholarly contribution on the concepts.

Diversity and Social Justice in Technology Design

An interdisciplinary endeavour at the intersection of American Studies, Critical Diversity Studies, as well as Science and Technology Studies, this article scrutinises so-called diversity-aware technology. A diversity-aware system is a computer system whose designers a) account for differences between the system’s stakeholders, and/or b) draw on a normative notion of diversity like “inclusion” or “fairness” in its design. Diversity concepts embedded in technology carry contested values and have effects on the technology’s stakeholders. Therefore, it is vital to conduct a critical review of designs leveraging diversity concepts. In an exploration of three cases (diversity-aware datasets, machine learning fairness, and diversity-aware social media), the article sheds light on the shortcomings of mainstream or “individual-level” diversity-aware technology. Such technology leverages individual-level notions of diversity (demographics, personality, culture) to cater to users, thereby obscuring social inequalities among them. Inspired by Black feminism and critical race theory, the article offers a social-justice-oriented conceptualisation of diversity-aware technology. It develops a definition and criteria for critical or “structural-level” diversity-aware technology, where diversity concepts are linked to the visibility and redistribution of power. The article offers inspiration for researchers of technology and designers who work with diversity concepts.

Concepts of Womanism/ Feminism in A Life Apart: An Autobiography by Prabha Khaitan

Even though the concept of Womanism has roots in Black Feminism, still it can form some relevance and connection with Indian Feminism. Alice Walker (1944-) an African Black woman writer has positioned “Womanist/Womanism” in her critically acclaimed collection of essays, “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens: Womanist Prose”. Roughly, in Post-Independence India, women’s active involvement in politics advances their positions. The proportion of women in the Indian Education System skyrocketed. Due to awareness, Indian women make decisions in the realms of social, economic, and religious issues as well. Now, women lawyers, activists, politicians, administrators, and others focus on the upliftment of women’s conditions in India. These give birth to women-specific organizations, acts, amendments, and laws. In Indian Feminism based on the above-discussed layouts, there have been three waves in the last eighty years. Indian Womanism can be one of the most significant segments of Indian Feminism of the contemporary era. The primary aim of the Researcher is to conceptualize Indian Womanism while unwrapping the palimpsest narrative of Prabha Khaitan’s autobiography named A Life Apart. The second contention is to situate Prabha Khaitan as the best possible exemplar of an Indian Womanist instead of an Indian Feminist in the background of A Life Apart: An Autobiography.

Interseccionalidades da escravidão contemporânea da mulher negra à luz do pensamento decolonial: trabalho, determinantes e desigualdades sociais

Abstract This article problematizes the invisibility of the enslaved black woman from a decolonial theoretical approach to confronting contemporary slave labor, methodologically adopting a qualitative approach and bibliographic review research focusing on belonging-social recognition and black feminism and equity. We discuss the position of black women in Brazilian patriarchal society, their invisibility, and the decolonial feminist methodology as an institutional strategy for a political, legal, and economic reaction against contemporary enslavement, adopting the contributions of Ibarra-Colado and Maria Lugones as references. We found that the black woman is doubly vulnerable due to her color and gender, making her condition in the social relations of work essentially based on an asymmetry of power between her, a working black woman, and her employers. This consequentially naturalizes the practices of invisibility through the choices of public and private policies to combat exploitation. It is concluded that there is a need to redesign organizational strategies to combat contemporary slave labor from a decolonial perspective that values Brazilian particularities and diversities, ensuring effective recognition and confrontation of the invisibility of black women, providing them with a more dignified, more equal, and less peripheral life.

Black Feminism and Intersectionality in Brazilian Journals (1992-2020)

Resumo: Buscamos analisar a evolução da produção acadêmica brasileira sobre feminismo negro e interseccionalidade, no período de 1992 a 2020, por meio de uma análise bibliométrica e com raspagem de dados de artigos publicados em revistas das áreas de ciências sociais e humanas (A1, A2 e B1). Destacamos o impacto dos fluxos internacionais em difundir e adensar agendas de pesquisa sobre mulheres negras a partir dos anos 2000 e a importância de dossiês temáticos sobre gênero e raça em periódicos qualificados como mecanismo indutor para a ampliação da produção científica sobre as temáticas. Há um aumento contínuo de textos sobre tais questões a partir dos anos 2010, sugerindo que maior acesso de estudantes negros ao ensino superior e ampliação do debate público sobre interseccionalidade fora da academia possam estar gerando uma retroalimentação quanto ao interesse e à relevância do tema.

Simone de Beauvoir, Analogy, Intersectionality, and Expanding Philosophy: An Interview with Kathryn Sophia Belle

AbstractIn this interview with Kathryn Sophia Belle (formerly Kathryn T. Gines), Edward O'Byrn discusses Belle's publications from 2010–2017. His questions focus on Simone de Beauvoir and her use of analogy in The Second Sex, along with broader questions that engage Belle's work on existential philosophy, Beauvoir, Black feminism, and intersectionality.

There's no place like [your] home: Exploring Somali hospitality as a care-full choreography enhancing Somali Canadian diasporic wellbeing

This article explores Somali hospitality's ontological functions as a cultural custom that functions to enhance the well-being of its (Somali) visitor(s). Interviews with first-generation Somali Canadians (n = 27) depicted Somali hospitality as a choreographed ritual which caters care-fully and sequentially to guests’ well-being. From door to departure, the guest is 'top-down centralized' — the custom commencing first with an attention to a guest's physiological needs (e.g., food, drink, shelter); then shifting to focus on their welfare necessities (e.g., financial, social, medical), and concluding with an implicit awareness of guests' social well-being (e.g., sense of community, sense of belonging in place). During Somali hospitality, both home and host are transformed into material sites of protection, the cultural customs of the homeland providing a buffer against the weight of occupying a multiply racialized (Black, Somali and Muslim) in settler colonial place. Occurring in the private geographies of Somali home(s), the ritual provides Somalis a temporary break from the structural logics of anti-blackness and Orientalism negotiated daily in public space. Through prioritization of homeland social dynamics, the custom care-fully re-positions Somali guests from margin to center — from out of place, to in place. In focusing on geographies of the Somali home and the concealed spaces of racialized Black folk, this work contributes to the areas of Black feminist and Muslim geographies as well as to diaspora research concerned with migrant well-being at large. Most importantly, by highlighting the qualitative intricacies of Somali hospitality, this work validates the existence Black Arab cultural customs, for they remain largely subordinated within and erased from the Arab social imagination.

Escrevivência: O Cansativo Processo de Ser uma Outsider Interna na Pós-Graduação em Administração

ABSTRACT Objective: this reader reflects on the exhaustion of being an outsider within a postgraduate Administration program. Theoretical approach: I also incorporate dialogue with black feminist thinkers to explore the intertwined intersections in autobiographical narratives. I highlight the concept of outsider whitin to reflect experiences of less privileged groups, who come up against paradigms established by a more influential community of insiders. In this movement, I shatter images that produce apathetic identities, enabling them to position themselves in the face of social dynamics. Method: to do this, I use Conceição Evaristo's theoretical operator Escrevivência to revisit memories and reveal, through a transactional dialogue, productions located in the knowledge of black women. Results: in addition, I instigate reflections, acceptance, and representation of all peoples, addressing not only personal drama but also community history. Conclusions: finally, through a utopian effort, I articulate possible ways for postgraduate courses in Administration to break through the barriers experienced and raise the potential for those willing to contribute to the country's social, scientific, and theoretical development.

On Imagined Innocence: Emerging Black Feminist Approaches to Slavery Studies

On Imagined Innocence: Emerging Black Feminist Approaches to Slavery Studies

Pauline E. Hopkins and the Black Feminist Editorial Imperative to Remember

Pauline E. Hopkins and the Black Feminist Editorial Imperative to Remember

Gendered Racial Socialization and Interracial Dating Attitudes Among Black Women

The current study examines the association between gendered racial socialization messages received by Black women and their attitudes towards Black interracial relationships. Hierarchal linear regression was used to examine participant's (N = 269) exposure to messages regarding 1) racial gender pride and empowerment, 2) internalized gender racial oppression, and 3) family responsibilities and attitudes towards Black interracial relationships. Results indicated greater messages regarding gender racial pride and empowerment were associated with more positive attitudes toward interracial dating. Conversely, greater internalized gendered racial oppression and family responsibilities and expectations were associated with less favorable attitudes toward Black interracial relationships broadly. However, greater internalized gendered racial oppression and family responsibilities and expectations did not influence one's own willingness to date someone of a different race. These results have implications for future research directions related to Black women's gendered racial socialization using the Black Feminist Thought framework.

(Re)Imagining Jazz Education through the Lens of Black Feminist Pedagogy: (Presented at the 2021 Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice)

(Re)Imagining Jazz Education through the Lens of Black Feminist Pedagogy: (Presented at the 2021 Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice)

“Y’all Celebrating Black Men in Prison”: Black Feminist Abolitionists and Intracommunal Violence

“Y’all Celebrating Black Men in Prison”: Black Feminist Abolitionists and Intracommunal Violence

"Now as a 50 year old woman, I know who I am": Older Black Women Reflecting on Dating and Marrying White Men

How do older Black women interpret their past and present intimate relationships with white men? In 26 interviews, Black women ranging from 40 to late 70 years old describe their experiences dating and/or marrying white men. Interviewees consider the societal context in which they engage in these relationships, noting differences in intimate interactions with white men in their youth versus their current age. When recollecting their experiences as younger women, interviewees reflect on messages about white men they were taught by older generations, body politics, and engaging with white men in the face of the historical subjugation of white men over Black women. When explaining their contemporary relationships, Black women state white men tend to be persistent, devoted, and accept them as they are. Our results are indicative of the importance of time and generation in interracial relationships that Black women engage in. We apply Black Feminist Thought to elucidate Black women's dynamics in these types of interracial relationships. These findings may be applied more broadly to the study of interracial relationships, and to intimate relationships in general, as we highlight how societal-level events and expectations have the power to impact interpersonal relationships.

Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound by Daphne A. Brooks (review)

Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound by Daphne A. Brooks (review)

Chaucer's Wenches

Abstract: This essay analyzes the eighteen occurrences of the word wenche in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and argues that the idea of the "wenche" persists today, most notably as implicit justification for the rescinding of the constitutional right to an abortion in the US Supreme Court's monumental decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (June 2022). It takes a Black feminist approach by situating Chaucer's wenches in the context of Black women's history and tracing how the word's resonances continued their pernicious work of making meaning and shaping material realities long after the Middle Ages. It first gives a careful history of wench 's origins and accretion of meaning from the early to the late Middle Ages, paying particular attention to its relationship with the Latin ancilla . It uses the Wycliffite Bible as a lens to explore the term's rapidly accruing connotations of youth, servitude, femininity, and transgressive sexuality, and discusses the connections between "wenche" and reproduction in An Alphabet of Tales and Geoffrey the Grammarian's Promptorium parvulorum before tracing its symbolic freight across the Canterbury Tales and pointing to its underlying role in struggles for reproductive justice in our own time.