Black Intimacies

A Gender Perspective on Families and Relationships

By (author) Shirley A. Hill

Publication date:

21 December 2004

Length of book:

256 pages

Publisher

AltaMira Press

ISBN-13: 9780759101524

In Black Intimacies: A Gender Perspective on Families and Relationships, Shirley A. Hill applies a gender lens to the multiple systems of oppression that have shaped the lives of African American women and men. She challenges the image of a monolithic black population, a legacy of the civil rights movement that she argues is impossible to sustain in the postmodern era. Through a critique of intersectionality theory, Hill examines the ways in which gender has affected experiences of intimacy, family relationships, child rearing and motherhood for contemporary African Americans. Drawing on ethnographic material, interviews, and scholarly research, Hill's work rethinks the cultural and historical definitions of black identity, and reconceptualizes the various forms of oppression faced by black women. This book will be useful to students and instructors of African American Studies, Gender Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, Marriage and Family, and Social Work.

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Theorizing Race: The Challenge of Black Progress, Diversity, and Decline
Chapter 3 Perspectives on Black Families: From Pathology to Postmodernism
Chapter 4 Love, Marriage, and Beyond: The Pursuit of Intimacy
Chapter 5 In Search of the Village: Black Motherhood in Transition
Chapter 6 Socializing Black Children: The Impact of Social Class
Chapter 7 Gendered Violence: Racial Oppression and the Assault on Black Women
Chapter 8 Resolutions

In Black Intimacies: A Gender Perspective on Families ans Relationships, Hill challenges long-standing models, research, and assumptions about dimensions of Black sexuality....It provides insightful linkages between historic systemic and individual-level choices among Black women and men (and the larger society) that have resulted in contemporary challenges....Hill's attempt is commendable and several chapters...are particularly robust in the use of postmodern thought to render new ideas....Scholars, advanced undergraduate, and graduate students in gender studies as well as persons who study race, inequality, social stratification, and social problems could benefit from this book....The book succeeds in showing the benefits of expanding current theories used to study race, class, and gender issues and the Black experience.