From Black Power to Hip Hop: Racism, Nationalism, and Feminism (Politics History & Social Chan) [Paperback]

Patricia Hill Collins (Author)

Book Description

Series: Politics History & Social Chan | Publication Date: February 28, 2006

In this, her groundbreaking book, Patricia Hill Collins examines the new forms of racism in American life and the political responses to them. Using the experiences of African American men and women as her touchstone, she covers a wide range of issues that connect questions of race to American identity. She follows the long arc of African American responses to racism in the US, from Black Nationalism, to Black feminism, to hip hop. Using this "genealogy," she then investigates how nationalism has operated and reemerged in the wake of contemporary globalization and the unexpected resurgence of nationalism. She then offers an interpretation of how Black nationalism works today in the wake of changing Black youth identity and the continuing need to draw on nationalism and feminism to formulate both a response to racism and a concrete platform of political action.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sociologist Collins (Black Feminist Thought; Black Sexual Politics) turns her eye toward young African American women who have chosen to explore feminism through pop culture instead of academia in this sometimes rousing, sometimes plodding anthology of six essays. As the title suggests, Collins's overarching focus is on African American nationalism and feminism between the end of Black Power and the rise of hip hop culture. She offers a lively analysis of "hip hop feminism" espoused by Joan Morgan and other writers. "They see the incongruity of learning about feminism in their college classrooms, yet their response lies not in becoming academics who broker commodified knowledge within the academic marketplace." Also intriguing is her assessment of the divergence within the feminism movement, fueled in part by white feminism's failure to recognize the value of the work women of color do in their communities, resulting in a "colorblind racism" that has taken the place of active discrimination and leaves young African American women torn between an individualistic feminism and a community-oriented black nationalism. Though Collins devotes too much time to rehashing studies of race in America that other scholars published in the 1990s, her analysis of the choices facing women of the hip hop generation is provocative and invaluable.
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Review

"Her book offers a refreshing view of the politics on the ground, where people matter more than identities and the ideologies embedded within them." Ms. Magazine "Collins' lucid observations form the backdrop of her sustained engagement with nationalism, feminism, and racism in a collection that includes signature essays on topics as diverse as American national identity, the contemporary relevance of Afro centrism, and women's agency in black community politics." - Signs "Collins's work is always a pleasure to read. She deftly weaves historical analyses, popular culture, literature, and theory to produce a complex portrait of ongoing and systematic racism, relentlessly highlighting the interconnected dynamics of gender inequality as well as other systems of oppression. Each of these essays makes clear that any political response to racism must incorporate an intersectional approach." Gender and Society "The book can serve as good primer...Hill Collins' writing is always composed with a synthesis of historical analyses, popular culture, literature and theory that is often lacking in other academics' social scientific treatises. Any of the six essays within the text makes a clear case that either an organized-collective or individual response to racism, sexism, or capitalism must incorporate an intersectional approach." Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society "The six essays in this volume explore the political realities of the period from the end of Black Power to the ascendancy of hip hop. They focus on the relationship between new racial formations and on political responses to them...A theme of the volume is Hill's endeavour to theorise intersectionality, and she focuses on the intersections between race, nation, and gender, to a lesser extent, social class. The aim of this book is to make a case for anti racist group based political struggles that respect individual and human rights which embrace a global analysis of how our lives are interconnected, and are informed by feminism and nationalism." Sage Race Relations Abstracts "In her new book Patricia Hill Collins reminds us why she is one of the most prolific and insightful sociologists to diagnose contemporary racial and sexual politics."-The African American Review, Spring 2008

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Temple University Press; annotated edition edition (February 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592130925
• ISBN-13: 978-1592130924
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #489,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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