DIVFrom a highly respected thinker on race, gender, and American politics, a new consideration of black women and how distorted stereotypes affect their political beliefs/div
From a highly respected thinker on race, gender, and American politics, a new consideration of black women and how distorted stereotypes affect their political beliefs 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 instead explores how African American women understand themselves as citizens and what they expect from political organizing. Harris-Perry shows that the shared struggle to preserve an authentic self and secure recognition as a citizen links together black women in America, from the anonymous survivors of Hurricane Katrina to the current First Lady of the United States.
Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The struggle many black women face is to figure out which way is up in a crooked room full of warped images of their humanity. Some black women tilt and bend themselves to fit the distortion. #2 The play, For Colored Girls, was first produced Off-Broadway in 1975. It has sold more than a hundred thousand copies. It is a definitive artistic, visual, and poetic representation of the experience of the crooked room. #3 The struggle of black women to stand upright in a crooked world is a major theme in Shange’s work. It is not just about victimization, but also about love, passion, exploration, joy, music, and dance. #4 The women in the focus groups identified three stereotypes of black women: Mammy, Jezebel, and Sapphire. They were either oversexed or asexual, and their roles were to be either promiscuous or asexual.
From The Real Housewives of Atlanta to Flavor of Love, reality shows with predominantly black casts have often been criticized for their negative representation of African American women as loud, angry, and violent. Yet even as these programs appear to be rehashing old stereotypes of black women, the critiques of them are arguably problematic in their own way, as the notion of “respectability” has historically been used to police black women’s behaviors. The first book of scholarship devoted to the issue of how black women are depicted on reality television, Real Sister offers an even-handed consideration of the genre. The book’s ten contributors—black female scholars from a variety of disciplines—provide a wide range of perspectives, while considering everything from Basketball Wives to Say Yes to the Dress. As regular viewers of reality television, these scholars are able to note ways in which the genre presents positive images of black womanhood, even as they catalog a litany of stereotypes about race, class, and gender that it tends to reinforce. Rather than simply dismissing reality television as “trash,” this collection takes the genre seriously, as an important touchstone in ongoing cultural debates about what constitutes “trashiness” and “respectability.” Written in an accessible style that will appeal to reality TV fans both inside and outside of academia, Real Sister thus seeks to inspire a more nuanced, thoughtful conversation about the genre’s representations and their effects on the black community.
Black women are strong. At least that's what everyone says and how they are constantly depicted. But what, exactly, does this strength entail? And what price do Black women pay for it? In this book, the author, a psychologist and pastoral theologian, examines the burdensome yoke that the ideology of the Strong Black Woman places upon African American women. She demonstrates how the three core features of the ideology--emotional strength, caregiving, and independence--constrain the lives of African American women and predispose them to physical and emotional health problems, including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and anxiety. She traces the historical, social, and theological influences that resulted in the evolution and maintenance of the Strong Black Woman, including the Christian church, R & B and hip-hop artists, and popular television and film. Drawing upon womanist pastoral theology and twelve-step philosophy, she calls upon pastoral caregivers to aid in the healing of African American women's identities and crafts a twelve-step program for Strong Black Women in recovery.
This dissertation confronts the absence of biological sisterhood in modern critical examinations of nineteenth-century literature. Seizing upon the popular pattern of using familial rhetoric to frame political and social debates in early U.S. history, this project explores women writers who entered those debates via their fictional biological sisters. The biological tie equalizes the sisters' social standing and allows them to function as citizen models within the family - symbolic of the nation. Using popular nineteenth-century serial fiction and collected letters among actual sisters of the same period, chapter one identifies three traits of sisterhood that dominate the fiction and the letters: the importance of the elder sister as a behavioral model, a deep commitment to the long-term well-being of a sister, and the authorial trend of comparing and contrasting sisters. Taken together, these traits allow authors to wield their sisters as models who offer behavioral cues for citizen readers while insisting upon the dedication of one sister-citizen to the well-being of her national sister-citizens. Chapter two addresses Rebecca Rush's Kelroy, a novel that follows the Hammond sisters as they react to the machinations of their mother, Mrs. Hammond, a metaphorical stand-in for Britain. The text is Rush's warning to citizens who do not adequately resist "Mother Britain's" interference. Chapter three examines Ann S. Stephens' Mary Derwent, a text that follows the Derwent Sisters and casts younger sister Mary as the Indian-equivalent "Other" through her physical deformity, a hunchback. Rush disparages those who support Indian Removal policies and advocates for Indian inclusion into the American family. Finally, chapter four examines Elizabeth Stoddard's The Morgesons, a novel published during the Civil War. Despite no overt war references, Stoddard's setting keenly reflects the national landscape, as sisters Veronica and Cassandra exist within a house divided. Following the death of Mrs. Morgeson, Stoddard ponders the post-war future of the United States as the sisters rebuild their lives in a newly reconfigured house under new leadership. Each novel in this project begs for reconsideration as a text that is actively engaged with contemporary national concerns, an engagement that is voiced through the authors' sororal creations.
From the archives of Sister Cities International and the extensive submissions of stories and photographs from dedicated members around the world, this beautiful keepsake volume documents, for the first time, the rich and colorful history and powerful reach of the global sister city movement, which has established meaningful partnerships and built one-on-one cooperations between U.S. and international communities for the last half-century. Delve into this limited edition, commemorative book and be inspired by hundreds of stories and photographs from outstanding sister city programs around the world. Peace Through People celebrates the spirit and the now 50-year history of this citizen diplomacy movement, which President Dwight D. Eisenhower founded on September 11, 1956. Heartwarming, encouraging, and empowering, this volume illuminates the passion and the power of our global community.