Customer Reviews

Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment (Revised 10th Anniv 2nd Edition)

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Patricia Hill Collins exemplifies a practitioner's and theorist's point of view on black feminism as it relates to Africa American and our African sisters. She references critical and inspiring data and quotes from a varied repetoire of authors, historians, and philosophers. The author explains the context and format of her subject upon initial reading. This book also draws commonalities among the issues and concerns among African American women and our international sisterhood (i.e., African, Carribean, etc.,) It illustrates the social and cultural values among all groups, the commonalities among the values while focusing on the African American feminist aspect. This is a must read for any person, be it woman or not, African American or other. It brings about a social and cultural understanding that is pertinent to the "holonomy" of understanding and appreciating varied cultural, social and historical values and experiences while commencing to the building of community. Please add this title to your collection of literature. You won't be disappointed; if for nothing more than to open your world to receive another perspective.

Collins'analysis of black feminism is an enlightening piece of literature that forces its readers to chanllenge main stream assumptions and discover the underlying mechanisms of racism and sexism in America. To create this effect, she uses a range of feminist perspectives form the calm subtleties of Angela Davis to the slightly boisterous philosopy of Bell Hooks. Nevertheless, by displaying these perspectives equally Collins shows that the struggle for equally is not an individual struggle but one that requires collectively. This book is intensely thought provoking and it is guaranteed to give its readers profound insight into black feminism.

This book is dense with thoughts and ideas, written in a looping structure that weaves the vast diversity of black women's voices into a colorful tapestry of intricate detail and contradiction. This is its strength, and its weakness. Collins specifically avoids exclusivity, and this means she includes a few... well, "out there" thoughts from others. Most notably, she cites Tuan on p 139 who asserts that people go to zoos to see monkeys copulate. But this is an extreme, and very rare. More commonly, she grounds these diverse thoughts in real-world experiences. Most impressively, she makes the case that intellectual thought is not limited to the academy, but must include all those who think seriously about their lives. This means that groups - such as Black women - who have been historically excluded from the academy can rediscover their own intellectual traditions outside of academia, and tie them all together. I am glad that I read this book. It has many perspectives I simply was not aware of before I opened it. While I may not agree with all of Collins' assertions, I definitely respect them. It is a dense book, but the very structure of it makes it accessible through its layering technique. Further, Collins writes in a unadorned style that makes absorbing unfamiliar viewpoints all the easier.

I'm a gay white male and I loved this book! Collins does an amazing job presenting her compelling thesis, and I continue to thank Sociology in general for being the most daring, critical-thinking academic discipline ever. It's no surprise sociologists like Collins dare to speak out on gay rights issues (see her section on homophobia/heterosexism) - sociology is the only area of thought that consistently questions the status quo. In a day in age where so many (though by no means all!) African-American (heterosexuals) are horribly anti-gay and increasingly pro-greed/pro-capitalism, Collins stands out as a heroine for all peoples. I am still waiting for an openly gay hip-hop artist!! How cool would that be? I recommend this book to absolutely anyone. Five stars!

I knew little about the Black Feminist movement, when I first read this book over four years ago. It was part of a list of required books for a Black and Indigenous women's course through the school of Women's Studies. This school of thought has more involved in it than meets the eye. For starters, according to the very compelling and highly researched studies of Patricia Hill Collins, it came about in the face of great discrimination against, not only, African-Americans and women, but especially African-American women. They were looked down upon and objectified, due to their race, the means in which many African-Americans were forceably brought to the United States, as slaves (fodder for wealthy, white slave owners in their fields and in their children's nurseries, as well as their kitchens).

What works so well in its book is the acute insight and detail that Collins brings to her body of work. This book is really beautifully put together, and we get a sense of the evolution of Black Feminist Thought, through time. It's unbelievable to me that not more people have heard of this book, and I really think a formal movement needs to be started in schools throughout the country, to bring interracial consciousness to the masses, through literature. Read this book today.

Patricia Hill Collins, (born 1948) is Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park, and the former head of the Department of African American Studies at the University of Cincinnati, as well as past President of the American Sociological Association Council. She has also written the books Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism, Another Kind of Public Education: Race, Schools, the Media, and Democratic Possibilities (Simmons College/Beacon Press Race, Education, and Democracy), Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice (Contradictions of Modernity), and Race, Class, & Gender: An Anthology.

She wrote in the Preface to this 1991 book, "This book reflects one stage in my ongoing struggle to regain my voice. Over the years I have tried to replace the external definitions of my life forwarded by dominant groups with my own self-defined standpoint... Finally, writing this book has convinced me of the need to reconcile subjectivity and objectivity in producing scholarship... I discovered that the both/and conceptual stance of Black feminist thought allowed me to be both objective and subjective, to possess both an Afrocentric and a feminist consciousness, and to be both a respectable scholar and an acceptable mother."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"I cite a range of Black women thinkers not because I think Black women have a monopoly on the ideas presented; instead I aim to demonstrate the range and depth of thinkers who exist in my community." (Pg. 16)
"Blue-eyed, blond, thin white women could not be considered beautiful without the Other---Black women with classical African features of dark skin, broad noses, full lips, and kinky hair." (Pg. 79)
"As bloodmothers and othermothers in Black extended families, women are key to transmitting an Afrocentric worldview." (Pt. 146)
"But because Black women have had to struggle against white male interpretations of the world in order to express a self-defined standpoint, Black feminist thought can best be viewed as subjugated knowledge." (Pg. 201-202)

The book were in excellent condition and did not take long to arrive at home earlier than expected.

I did not actually get to read the whole book, my teacher did not really stress reading this so I unfortunately cannot write and honest review. Sorry.