Overview

Black Feminist Anthropology: Theory, Politics, Praxis and Poetics is a groundbreaking collection that centers the imaginative intellectual perspectives, voices, and experiences of Black American feminist anthropologists.  Twenty-five years ago, as the Foreword states, this book dared to put three words together in the title—Black. Feminist. Anthropology— “that have not always kept company with each other—and in the minds of many both in and outside of the academy, they should remain separate.” Standing the test of time, it is still a bold reimagining of anthropology, and all social sciences, as inclusive and decolonized, while establishing a new Black feminist anthropology canon that decades later is too often taken for granted as normative. Black Feminist Anthropology is filled with a message of theoretical possibilities that anyone who enters its pages will find “healing,” “life-saving,” and an affirmation that Black women anthropologists have contributed much to the theory, politics, praxis and poetics of anthropology, gender and women’s studies, masculinity studies, queer studies, the social sciences generally, and any other discipline that seeks transformation from the inside out. It is both an archive and a legacy for the next generation.

Full Product Details

Author:   Irma McClaurin ,  Johnnetta Betsch Cole ,  A. Lynn Bolles ,  Kimberly Eison Simmons
Publisher:   Rutgers University Press
Imprint:   Rutgers University Press
Edition:   Special edition, 25th Anniversary Edition
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.426kg
ISBN:  

9781978843295

ISBN 10:   1978843291
Pages:   316
Publication Date:   15 November 2024
Recommended Age:   From 18 to 99 years
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Foreword by Johnnetta B. Cole Preface to the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition: Creating a Canon and Building a Legacy: Reflections on Twenty-Five Years of Black Feminist Anthropology “Poem for My Black Anthropology Sistahs Today” Preface to the 2001 Edition Introduction: Forging a Theory, Politics, Praxis, and Poetics of Black Feminist Anthropology Irma McClaurin 1 Seeking the Ancestors: Forging a Black Feminist Tradition in Anthropology A. Lynn Bolles 2 Theorizing a Black Feminist Self in Anthropology: Toward an Autoethnographic Approach Irma McClaurin 3 A Passion for Sameness: Encountering a Black Feminist Self in Fieldwork in the Dominican Republic Kimberly Eison Simmons 4 Disciplining the Black Female Body: Learning Feminism in Africa and the United States Carolyn Martin Shaw 5 Negotiating Identity and Black Feminist Politics in Caribbean Research Karla Slocum 6 A Black Feminist Perspective on the Sexual Commodification of Women in the New Global Culture Angela M. Gilliam 7 Biomedical Ethics, Gender, and Ethnicity: Implications for Black Feminist Anthropology Cheryl Mwaria 8 Contingent Stories of Anthropology, Race, and Feminism Paulla A. Ebron 9 A Homegirl Goes Home: Black Feminism and the Lure of Native Anthropology Cheryl Rodriguez Notes on Contributors Notes on the Cover Art and Author Photograph Photo Credits Index

Reviews

"“This refreshing and inspiring collection of nine articles and a superb introduction seeks to come to terms with, if not resolve, the triple contradictions found in the title. Each author brings personal experiences of racism, sexism, and other challenges to bear on what are without exception successful examples of what C. Wright Mills called ‘the sociological imagination,’ where biography, intellectual activity, and activism are presented as a seamless whole.” -- Choice ""What is so powerful about these women’s voices is that their theory is based not only on a self-reflexive and autobiographical framework, but it is positioned in a framework that boldly declares its commitment to scholarship, theory-making, and social justice. It is a very important book for anthropology, for feminist studies, for African American studies—and ultimately for all of us."" -- Anthropological Quarterly ""[Black Feminist Anthropology] boldly disrupts naïve assumptions of an inclusive anthropology [and] places at center questions of positionality and subjectivity when the researchers are Black and female, and the 'consultants' are Black women. [The book] provides a meaningful analysis of the complexities of race and gender research, particularly since these categories are multiple and shifting largely based on history and locale."" -- Contemporary Sociology ""This anthology provides a new level of positive visibility and support to Black women creatively engaged in the Black feminist praxis of intellectual activism. Even more important, it serves as a Black feminist strategic intervention in the critical task that Lather has described as 'produc[ing] different knowledge and ... produc[ing] knowledge differently' (Vol. 27, No. 1, Autumn 2001, Pg. 200). This anthology must be read by anthropologists who want to contribute to discussions about the issues raised by the essays in this book and by those of us who are excited by and devoted to the development of interdisciplinary Black feminist praxis."" -- Gender and Society ""Anthropologists [in this collection]...disclose how their experiences as Black women have influenced their anthropological practices in Africa, the Caribbean, and the U.S., and how anthropology has influenced their development as Black feminists...The authors write eloquently on the complex mix of personal and professional that dominate their lives."" -- Advocate ""Black Feminist Anthropology makes a provocative and important contribution to contemporary Black feminism. For the authors in this book, the premise that scholarship and social justice agendas must inform one another fosters a new anthropology that promises to stimulate new questions for us all."" -- Patricia Hill Collins * author of Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice * ""Black Feminist Anthropology has been an intellectual touchstone guiding my research, teaching, and institutional leadership practices for the past 25 years. Having impacted the fields of anthropology and gender and women’s studies then in profound ways, it is needed now more than ever as we continue to center the experiences of Black women in theory and practice in the academy and in society."" -- Yolanda T. Moses * professor of Anthropology, University of California Riverside * ""A groundbreaking and vital book that centers the voices and visions of Black women in anthropological research. This book is as imperative today as it was twenty-five years ago."" -- Keisha N. Blain * professor of Africana Studies and History at Brown University * ""Like few other texts, Black Feminist Anthropology gives Black women social scientists a history. From recovering Zora Neale Hurston’s intellectual labors as an anthropologist to offering autoethnographic windows into contemporary Black feminist knowledge-making, this collection embodies the belief that Black women’s lived experiences matter."" -- Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant * Louise R. Noun ’29 Chair in Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies, Grinnell College * ""Irma McClaurin and her colleagues bring Black Feminist Anthropology into the center of the discipline. Each of these carefully crafted essays combines personal biography with ethnographic insights to forge a feminist analysis of the complex relationship of race, class, and gender in the lives of Black women. Black Feminist Anthropology is an essential text for those who want to read cutting edge anthropological theory."" -- Louise Lamphere * distinguished professor of anthropology, University of New Mexico, and director of the Alfonso Ortiz * ""I read Black Feminist Anthropology in Adwa, Ethiopia where rural women participated in the revolution against their oppressors. This seminal work demonstrates why empowerment, then and now, must include storytelling.  Being all Black and Feminist anthropologists, these authors tell stories beyond the boundaries of the White academic canons and traditions and the male gaze to enrich the legacy of knowing and as actors for change. This classic must be read by all practicing anthropologists in the 21st century."" -- Kesho Scott * author of The Habit of Surviving and co-author of Tight Spaces * ""As a graduate student, it has been a balancing act of learning to reconcile the fraught nature of the discipline of anthropology with my dreams of becoming a Black Feminist anthropologist who works to unsettle the Black experience in a time of increasing ecological precarity. This collection is a source of wisdom, healing, and empowerment."" -- Yveline C. Saint Louis * PhD student in sociocultural anthropology, University of Washington * ""Black Feminist Anthropology: Theory, Politics, Praxis and Poetics is a pathbreaking and landmark contribution to the field of anthropology paving the way for new methodological and theoretical directions. The book is an essential text for examining the significance of Black women’s impact in fields far and wide including dance studies, performance studies, masculinity studies, and queer theory."" -- Mark Broomfield * associate professor of English, SUNY Geneseo * ""Irma McClaurin is an impressive scholar and advocate for justice. I am deeply grateful for her insights into racial justice in the academy, and into structural racism and sexism more generally. Her work is essential to anyone concerned with re-establishing trust in and between our educational, social, and governmental institutions."" -- Anne F. Harris * president, Grinnell College * ""Even before recent groundbreaking interventions disrupted mainstream anthropology’s white, masculinist narratives, like the 'Cite Black Women' movement, there was Black Feminist Anthropology. This trailblazing collection remains more relevant than ever today as we work to decolonize our thinking, acknowledging long-buried truths about anthropology’s complex racialized and gendered histories and legacies."" -- Susan B. Hyatt * professor emerita of Anthropology, Indiana University, Indianapolis * ""In the beginning of Black Feminist Anthropology, Irma McClaurin calls the book an 'intervention,' and for the last 25 years, it has been the bedrock for many interventions into the study of Black life, Black women's lives, and Black diasporic studies. While this book has launched and given support to the work of many, I had the honor of bringing it into my classroom and creating a course with the same name: Black Feminist Anthropology. Dr. Irma McClaurin was a guest lecturer in this interventionist course, and since then, students have told me how important the course was to them in strengthening their sense of self in the academy. This class and the pedagogy I designed to support it were built on top of the foundational house established by Irma McClaurin with the development and publication of ""Black Feminist Anthropology,"" three words that have built and continue to sustain a decolonized anthropology that centers Black women's knowledge production in theory, politics, praxis, and poetics."" -- Riché J. Daniel Barnes * author of Raising the Race: Black Career Women Redefine Marriage, Motherhood, and Community (Rutgers *"

"“This refreshing and inspiring collection of nine articles and a superb introduction seeks to come to terms with, if not resolve, the triple contradictions found in the title…Each author brings personal experiences of racism, sexism, and other challenges to bear on what are without exception successful examples of what C. Wright Mills called ‘the sociological imagination,’ where biography, intellectual activity, and activism are presented as a seamless whole.” -- Choice ""What is so powerful about these women’s voices is that their theory is based not only on a self-reflexive and autobiographical framework, but it is positioned in a framework that boldly declares its commitment to scholarship, theory-making, and social justice. It is a very important book for anthropology, for feminist studies, for African American studies—and ultimately for all of us."" -- Anthropological Quarterly ""[Black Feminist Anthropology] boldly disrupts naïve assumptions of an inclusive anthropology [and] places at center questions of positionality and subjectivity when the researchers are Black and female, and the 'consultants' are Black women. [The book] provides a meaningful analysis of the complexities of race and gender research, particularly since these categories are multiple and shifting largely based on history and locale."" -- Contemporary Sociology ""This anthology provides a new level of positive visibility and support to Black women creatively engaged in the Black feminist praxis of intellectual activism. Even more important, it serves as a Black feminist strategic intervention in the critical task that Lather has described as 'produc[ing] different knowledge and... produc[ing] knowledge differently' (2001, 200). This anthology must be read by anthropologists who want to contribute to discussions about the issues raised by the essays in this book and by those of us who are excited by and devoted to the development of interdisciplinary Black feminist praxis."" -- Gender and Society ""Anthropologists [in this collection]...disclose how their experiences as Black women have influenced their anthropological practices in Africa, the Caribbean, and the U.S., and how anthropology has influenced their development as Black feminists...The authors write eloquently on the complex mix of personal and professional that dominate their lives."" -- Advocate ""Black Feminist Anthropology makes a provocative and important contribution to contemporary Black feminism. For the authors in this book, the premise that scholarship and social justice agendas must inform one another fosters a new anthropology that promises to stimulate new questions for us all."" -- Patricia Hill Collins * author of Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice * ""Black Feminist Anthropology has been an intellectual touchstone guiding my research, teaching, and institutional leadership practices for the past 25 years. Having impacted the fields of anthropology and gender and women’s studies then in profound ways, it is needed now more than ever as we continue to center the experiences of Black women in theory and practice in the academy and in society."" -- Yolanda T. Moses * professor of Anthropology, University of California Riverside * ""A groundbreaking and vital book that centers the voices and visions of Black women in anthropological research. This book is as imperative today as it was twenty-five years ago."" -- Keisha N. Blain * professor of Africana Studies and History at Brown University * ""Like few other texts, Black Feminist Anthropology gives Black women social scientists a history. From recovering Zora Neale Hurston’s intellectual labors as an anthropologist to offering autoethnographic windows into contemporary Black feminist knowledge-making, this collection embodies the belief that Black women’s lived experiences matter."" -- Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant * Louise R. Noun ’29 Chair in Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies, Grinnell College * ""Irma McClaurin and her colleagues bring Black Feminist Anthropology into the center of the discipline. Each of these carefully crafted essays combines personal biography with ethnographic insights to forge a feminist analysis of the complex relationship of race, class, and gender in the lives of Black women. Black Feminist Anthropology is an essential text for those who want to read cutting edge anthropological theory."" -- Louise Lamphere * distinguished professor of anthropology, University of New Mexico, and director of the Alfonso Ortiz * ""I read Black Feminist Anthropology in Adwa, Ethiopia where rural women participated in the revolution against their oppressors. This seminal work demonstrates why empowerment, then and now, must include storytelling.  Being all Black and Feminist anthropologists, these authors tell stories beyond the boundaries of the White academic canons and traditions and the male gaze to enrich the legacy of knowing and as actors for change. This classic must be read by all practicing anthropologists in the 21st century."" -- Kesho Scott * author of The Habit of Surviving and co-author of Tight Spaces * ""As a graduate student, it has been a balancing act of learning to reconcile the fraught nature of the discipline of anthropology with my dreams of becoming a Black Feminist anthropologist who works to unsettle the Black experience in a time of increasing ecological precarity. This collection is a source of wisdom, healing, and empowerment."" -- Yveline C. Saint Louis * PhD student in sociocultural anthropology, University of Washington * ""Black Feminist Anthropology: Theory, Politics, Praxis and Poetics is a pathbreaking and landmark contribution to the field of anthropology paving the way for new methodological and theoretical directions. The book is an essential text for examining the significance of Black women’s impact in fields far and wide including dance studies, performance studies, masculinity studies, and queer theory."" -- Mark Broomfield * associate professor of English, SUNY Geneseo * ""Irma McClaurin is an impressive scholar and advocate for justice. I am deeply grateful for her insights into racial justice in the academy, and into structural racism and sexism more generally. Her work is essential to anyone concerned with re-establishing trust in and between our educational, social, and governmental institutions."" -- Anne F. Harris * president, Grinnell College * ""Even before recent groundbreaking interventions disrupted mainstream anthropology’s white, masculinist narratives, like the 'Cite Black Women' movement, there was Black Feminist Anthropology. This trailblazing collection remains more relevant than ever today as we work to decolonize our thinking, acknowledging long-buried truths about anthropology’s complex racialized and gendered histories and legacies."" -- Susan B. Hyatt * professor emerita of Anthropology, Indiana University, Indianapolis * ""In the beginning of Black Feminist Anthropology, Irma McClaurin calls the book an 'intervention,' and for the last 25 years, it has been the bedrock for many interventions into the study of Black life, Black women's lives, and Black diasporic studies. While this book has launched and given support to the work of many, I had the honor of bringing it into my classroom and creating a course with the same name: Black Feminist Anthropology. Dr. Irma McClaurin was a guest lecturer in this interventionist course, and since then, students have told me how important the course was to them in strengthening their sense of self in the academy. This class and the pedagogy I designed to support it were built on top of the foundational house established by Irma McClaurin with the development and publication of ""Black Feminist Anthropology,"" three words that have built and continue to sustain a decolonized anthropology that centers Black women's knowledge production in theory, politics, praxis, and poetics."" -- Riché J. Daniel Barnes * author of Raising the Race: Black Career Women Redefine Marriage, Motherhood, and Community (Rutgers *"

Author Information

IRMA McCLAURIN, PhD/MFA, is a Black Feminist activist anthropologist, Zora Neale Hurston scholar, and founder of the Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive at UMass Amherst. An award-winning writer and poet, and Culture and Education Editor for Insight News, she authored Women of Belize: Gender and Change in Central America (Rutgers University Press) and is co-contributor to Black Studies: An Interdisciplinary, Integrative and Interactive Approach. She resides in Raleigh, North Carolina. JOHNNETTA BETSCH COLE was the first African American woman to serve as president of Spelman College in 1987. After a decade of service at Spelman, she joined the faculty at Emory University as Presidential Distinguished Professor of anthropology, women’s studies, and African American studies. She went on to serve as president of Bennett College, the only other historically Black College for Women, and then as the Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. She is the author or co-author of many books, including All-American Women: Lines that Divide, Ties that Bind; Gender Talk: The Struggle for Women’s Equality in African American Communities; Conversations: Straight Talk with America’s Sister President; and Speechify: The Words and Legacy of Johnnetta Betsch Cole. She is the recipient of a National Humanities Medal, and 70 honorary degrees. She resides in Fernandina Beach, Florida.

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