Theorizing Black Feminisms: The Visionary Pragmatism of Black Women [Hardcover]

Stanlie M. James (Editor), Abena P.A. Busia (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 6, 1993 | ISBN-10: 0415073367 | ISBN-13: 978-0415073363 | Edition: Edition Unstated

Theorizing Black Feminisms outlines some of the crucial debates going on within contemporary Black feminist activity. In so doing it brings together a collection of some of the most exciting work by Black women scholars, celebrating Black women's agency and pragmatic activism.
Refusing to be limited by notions of disciplinary boundaries or divisions between theory and practice, Theorizing Black Feminisms draws on literature, sociology, history, political science, anthropology, and art. In four sections - on `revising paradigms', `theory and action', `controlling our bodies', and `the language of identities', sixteen essays cover a range of diverse issues, including:
* Theorizing race, class and gender in the new Black feminist scholarship
* Women and collective action
* Rape, HIV transmission, abortion and African-American women
* Discouse, critique and identity: languages of the self
Theorizing Black Feminisms is vital reading for anyone - activist, student, artist or scholar - interested in exploring the multidisciplinary possiblities of Black feminism. Exciting and innovative, the volume both reflects and intervenes in a rapidly expanding field.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The eighteen essays in Theorizing Black Feminisms push the boundaries of Black women's social theory. Overall, this interdisciplinary anthology emphasizes the necessity of linking caring, theoretical vision with informed, practical struggle. . . . Theorizing Black Feminisms' essays demonstrate that Black women's lives are not defined by the narrow confines of race, class and gender oppression. Never losing sight of the dignity of everyday struggle ... many Black women manage to theorize about a better society. . . . As the many perspectives presented in Theorizing Black Feminisms illustrate, arriving at some predetermined destination is less important than struggling for some ethical end; and dignity is achieved in struggling for something worthwhile.
–Patricia Hill Collins, author of Black Feminist Thought

Black people have long been silent on the subject of sexuality, at least partly because white society has stereotyped black women as promiscuous and black men as oversexed. But today, scholars like Andrea Benton Rushing, a professor of English at Amherst College, are drwaing on searing personal experiences to open up discussion.
–Karen J. Winkler, The Chronicle of Higher Education

About the Author

Stanlie M. James is Assistant Professor of Afro-American Studies and Women's Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Abena P. A. Busia is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Women's Studies at Rutgers University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; Edition Unstated edition (December 6, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415073367
• ISBN-13: 978-0415073363
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,354,913 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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