2: Black Feminist Studies
- Page ID
- 181537
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)- Students will identify and summarize the historical context of Black Feminism/Womanism in the United States.
- Students will compare and contrast the historical, social, and cultural roles gender, race, sex, and class play in dominant culture systems and institutions.
- Students will analyze and differentiate the differing intersections between Black Feminist/Womanist Thought and Feminist theory within historically dominant cultures, and radical Black Thought.
- Students will identify, interpret, and explain Black Feminist civil and social engagement within social, cultural, and political institutions and understand how Black Feminist/Womanist navigate and transform historical oppressive roles and systems.
- Students will identify critical intersectional consciousness and analyze the impact of gender, race, sexuality, and class on individuals and institutional systems, while cognitively deconstructing one's social position and ways to transform, utilize, and empower oneself across intersections.
“Developing Black feminist thought as critical social theory involves including the ideas of Black women not previously considered intellectuals--many of who may be working-class women with jobs outside academia--as well as those ideas emanating from more formal, legitimated scholarship. The ideas we share with one another as mothers in extended families, as othermothers in Black communities, as members of Black churches, and as teachers to the Black communitie's children have formed one pivotal area where African-American women have hammered out a multifaceted Black woman's standpoint.” -Patricia Hill Collins, from Black Feminist Thought.
Introduction 
“Black Feminist Studies” offers a concise, yet thorough exploration of Black feminist/womanist thought within the United States. It arrives at its supposition through keen attention and synthesis of the intersectional reality and impact of historical, social, and cultural norms that have positioned gender, race, sex, and class as oppressive systems and institutions within the Western modern world. This chapter positions Black feminism and womanism as powerful theoretical frameworks that challenge dominant, binary narratives that fail to acknowledge the multiple consciousness Black women occupy through the intersections of race, gender, class, and other identities such as sexuality and ability. While it develops and traces the intellectual traditions of Black feminism and womanism, this chapter is careful not to pit the two theories against each other, and instead offers the contours of the theories with the goal of tracing how each expands to reflect the differing approaches to activism, intellectual thought, artistic speech/expression, and the quotidian living of Black women. In fact, a key position this chapter highlights is reflected in the above quote, noting that Black feminist/womanist thought arises within a community of women who form a “multifaceted” standpoint that does not solely privilege the labor and ideas of traditional academic scholarship, but elevates and revers the labor of working-class women doing quotidian work as well as academic and artistic women engaging in quotidian work and labor. Black feminism/womanism provides Black women with the academic and quotidian theoretical frameworks to navigate, transform, disrupt, and replace systems of oppression and injustice.