Black Feminist Thought - Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment

In Black Feminist Thought, originally published in 1990, Patricia Hill Collins explores the words and ideas of black feminist intellectuals and writers. She provides an interpretive framework for the work of a range of prominent thinkers and draws from fiction, poetry, music and oral history, to provide a superbly crafted and revolutionary book that gave the first synthetic overview of black feminist thought and its canon.

In spite of the double burden of racial and gender discrimination, African-American women have developed a rich intellectual tradition that is not widely known. In Black Feminist Thought, originally published in 1990, Patricia Hill Collins set out to explore the words and ideas of Black feminist intellectuals and writers, both within the academy and without. Here Collins provides an interpretive framework for the work of such prominent Black feminist thinkers as Angela Davis, bell hooks, Alice Walker, and Audre Lorde. Drawing from fiction, poetry, music and oral history, the result is a superbly crafted and revolutionary book that provided the first synthetic overview of Black feminist thought and its canon.

Inhaltsverzeichnis:

Preface to the First Edition. Preface to the Second Edition. Acknowledgements Part 1: The Social Construction of Black Feminist Thought 1. The Politics of Black Feminist Thought 2. Distinguishing Features of Black Feminist Thought Part 2: Core Themes in Black Feminist Thought 3. Work, Family and Black Women's Oppression 4. Mammies, Matriarchs and other Controlling Images 5. The Power of Self-Definition 6. The Sexual Politics of Black Womanhood 7. Black Women's Love Relationships 8. Black Women and Motherhood 9. Rethinking Black Women's Activism Part 3: Black Feminism, Knowledge and Power 10. US Black Feminism in Transnational Context 11. Black Feminist Epistemology 12. Toward a Politics of Empowerment

Rezension:

"With the publication of Black Feminist Thought, black feminism has moved to a new level. Her work sets a standard for the discussion of black women's lives, experiences, and thought that demands rigorous attention to the complexity of these experiences and an exploration of a multiplicity of responses." -- Women's Review of Books
"A superbly crafted book that provides the first synthetic review of black feminst thought." -- Feminist Bookstore News
"The book argues convincingly that black feminists be given, in the words immortalized by Aretha Franklin, a little more R-E-S-P-E-C-T...Those with an appetite for scholarese will find Hill's book delicious." -- Black Enterprise
"The author discusses how knowledge can foster African-American women's empowerment. In line with her own deepened understanding of the issues since the first edition, she emphasizes Black feminist thought's purpose in fostering both empowerment and conditions of social justice, provides a more complex analysis of oppression, and places greater stress on the connections between knowledge and power relations. New themes include the nation as a form of oppression, as well as a transnational, global dimension. Topics are organized under the headings of the social construction of Black feminist thought, core themes, and Black Feminism, knowledge, and power." -- Book News, Inc.