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

by Hill-Collins; Patricia

• ISBN13: 9780415924832
• ISBN10: 0415924839
• Edition: 10th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-12-09
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

In i Black Feminist Thought /i , Patricia Hill Collins explores the words and ideas of Black feminist intellectuals as well as those African-American women outside academe. She not only provides an interpretive framework for the work of such prominent Black feminist thinkers as Angela Davis, Alice Walker, and Audre Lorde, but she shows the importance of self-defined knowledge for group empowerment. In the tenth anniversary edition of this award-winning work, Patricia Hill Collins expands the basic arguments of the first edition by adding several important new themes. A new discussion of heterosexism as a system of power, an expanded treatment of images of Black womanhood, U.S. Black feminism's connections to Black Diasporic feminisms, and more attention to the importance of social class and nationalism all appear in the new edition. In addition, the new edition includes recent developments in black cultural studies, especially black popular culture, as well as recent events and trends such as the Anita Hillhearings and the backlash against affirmative action.

Table of Contents

Preface to First Edition	vi
Preface to Second Edition	x
Acknowledgments	xiv
Part 1: The Social Construction of Black Feminist Thought
The Politics of Black Feminist Thought	1	(20)
Distinguishing Features of Black Feminist Thought	21	(24)
Part 2: Core Themes in Black Feminist Thought
Work, Family, and Black Women's Oppression	45	(24)
Mammies, Matriarchs, and Other Controlling Images	69	(28)
The Power of Self-Definition	97	(26)
The Sexual Politics of Black Womanhood	123	(26)
Black Women's Love Relationships	149	(24)
Black Women and Motherhood	173	(28)
Rethinking Black Women's Activism	201	(26)
Part 3: Black Feminism, Knowledge, and Power
U.S. Black Feminism in Transnational Context	227	(24)
Black Feminist Epistemology	251	(22)
Toward a Politics of Empowerment	273	(18)
Notes	291	(7)
Glossary	298	(4)
References	302	(24)
Index	326