Black Women in America: Social Science Perspectives - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226502961 ISBN 13: 9780226502960

Publisher: University of Chicago Press Journals, 1990

Synopsis

Emphasizing work that "frees our imaginations and allows us to conceive new theories, new language, and new questions," the collection seeks to establish the nature of Afro-American women's experiences while providing a theoretical framework for Black feminist thought. In essays that explore the intersection of work and family, socio-historical literature and critiques, and the relation of Black women to community life, contributors to this volume document Afro-American social and personal struggles and strategies. Individual essays examine family roles, job satisfaction, economic status, and women's traditions in the church.
An eloquent introduction to the development of Black feminist thought, Black Women in America encourages the discussion of broader issues, such as the treatment of cultural diversity in American higher education.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

This collection of 15 academic papers originally published between 1977 and 1989 in the journal Signs , where the editors are affiliated, is geared for use in the college classroom. The scholarship generally is first-rate, but lay readers looking for concrete solutions to black women's immediate problems may find these approaches frustrating. Walter R. Allen, for instance, justifies examining occupational status through census and survey data by stating that such research "should contribute to the identification and eventual removal of barriers" to equal opportunity. If we study the problem enough, he seems to say, it will go away. Other papers include Cheryl Townsend Gilke's work on the opportunities offered to women in the Sanctified Church, Sharon Harley on gender-related issues in slavery and sharecropping, Bonnie Thornton Dill's investigation of the nontraditional concept of womanhood developed by black women, and Diane K. Lewis's account of how, having come to identify their problems as partially rooted in sexism rather than racism, some black women are becoming more sympathetic to the goals of the women's movement.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press Journals
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0226502961
• ISBN 13: 9780226502960
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 348
• Editor: Malson Micheline R., Mudimbe-Boyi Elisabeth, O'Barr Jean F., Wyer Mary