Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America - Hardcover

Harris-Perry, Melissa V.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300165412 ISBN 13: 9780300165418

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2011

Synopsis

Jezebel's sexual lasciviousness, Mammy's devotion, and Sapphire's outspoken anger€”these are among the most persistent stereotypes that black women encounter in contemporary American life. Hurtful and dishonest, such representations force African American women to navigate a virtual crooked room that shames them and shapes their experiences as citizens. Many respond by assuming a mantle of strength that may convince others, and even themselves, that they do not need help. But as a result, the unique political issues of black women are often ignored and marginalized.In this groundbreaking book, Melissa V. Harris-Perry uses multiple methods of inquiry, including literary analysis, political theory, focus groups, surveys, and experimental research, to understand more deeply black women's political and emotional responses to pervasive negative race and gender images. Not a traditional political science work concerned with office-seeking, voting, or ideology, Sister Citizen

About this title

Book Description:

This groundbreaking book brings to light derogatory stereotypes that shape the experiences of African American women, then assesses the emotional and political costs of the struggle to counteract such negative assumptions.

From the Author:

Praise for Melissa Harris-Perry’s Sister Citizen: “After I read Melissa Harris-Perry’s new effort, Sister Citizen, two words sprang to my mind: Thank you. . . . [She] convincingly argues that tired images of Black women as castrating shrews, neck-rolling round-the-way girls and long-suffering, asexual mammies undermine Black women’s progress and power . . . She wisely uses the powerful chorus of real women to echo her battle cry that all sisters must be seen as true citizens before this country can move forward.”—Patrik Henry Bass, Essence “Melissa Harris-Perry is one of our most trenchant readers of modern black life. In Sister Citizen, she gives new life to the idea that ‘the personal is political.’ This book will change the conversation about the rights, responsibilities, and burdens of citizenship.”—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University “Sister Citizen carefully documents the complex challenges and hurdles Black women face in the twenty-first century. Harris-Perry’s book is both insightful and provocative. A must read for those interested in learning more about American politics.”—Donna Brazile, Political Commentator for CNN and ABC News and former Interim Chair of the Democratic National Committee “A feminist manifesto endeavoring to free sisters forever from the cruel and very limiting ways in which they continue to be pigeonholed.”—Kam Williams, Insight

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0300165412
• ISBN 13: 9780300165418
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 392