Abstract
The politics of Black feminist thought, a critical social theory, combines Black women’s suppressed ideas and intellectual activism. It consists of 6 distinguishing features – the dialectical relationship between Black women’s oppressions and activism, the tension between experience and ideas, the connection between heterogenous collective experience and group knowledge, contributions of intellectuals, change, and relationship to other social justice projects.
Black feminist thought examines many common themes including labor, controlling images, self-definition, sexual politics, relationships, motherhood, and activism. While it is centered around the experiences of Black women in the United States, there is recognition that it must include the intellect of Black women in the diaspora, as we share similar experiences and oppressions.
As a subjugated knowledge, Black feminist thought includes its own epistemology, emphasizing lived experience, dialogue, care, and personal accountability and counters dominant structure that legitimate knowledge. Black feminist intellectuals continually resist within different domains of power find many ways to empower ourselves, one another, and our communities.
Review
Reading Black Feminist Thought was a validating experience for me on both a personal and academic level. Many of the ideas and thought processes that Patricia Hill Collins lays out are almost a direct reflection of the way that I already think. This is so insightful to me because this was one of the first full-length Black feminist texts that I have read. It further proves her point that Black women share a collective conscious based on our social position(s).
It also solidified thoughts that I have had about resisting dominating ideas. There is a lot of discourse about what constitutes effective activism for Black women/people and leaves little room for nuance and complexities. Collins understands that our own personal experiences will both directly and indirectly relate to how we participate in resistance.
I also appreciate that Collins defines an intellectual, not as Black women in academia, but everyday Black women. It breaks down the power structure associated with being in higher education and empowers all of us to participate in our own liberation.
The specific ideas presented in this book that I found relevant to my research include controlling images, self-definition, transnationalism, and the epistemology of Black feminist thought. The chapter on epistemology is how I would like to model my research. The main reason I desire to produce a documentary is to hear directly from voices outside of my own. After reading BFT, I aim to also keep dialogue, care, and personal accountability in mind as I move forward in my research.
As I examine discourse within the Black diaspora, I want to incorporate how images produced by imperialism and white supremacy impacts our conversations with and assumptions about each other. Although we have similar oppressions, that does not always mean we are in coalition with each other. This book also helped me realize that I would also like to explore ideas of self-definition and opposing controlling images within the diaspora.
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