Challenging Misrepresentations of Black Womanhood

Media, Literature and Theory

Edited by Marquita M. Gammage, Antwanisha Alameen-Shavers

Publication date:

22 March 2019

Publisher

Anthem Press

Dimensions:

229x153mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781783089376

"Challenging Misrepresentations of Black Womanhood" investigates the typecasting of Black womanhood and the larger sociological impact on Black women’s self-perceptions. It details the historical and contemporary use of stereotypes against Black women and how these women work to challenge and dispel false perceptions. The book highlights the role of racist ideas in the reproduction and promotion of stereotypes of Black femaleness in media, literature, artificial intelligence and the perceptions of the general public. Contributors in this collection identify the racist and sexist ideologies behind the misperceptions of Black womanhood and illuminate twenty-first–century stereotypical treatment of Black women such as Michelle Obama and Serena Williams, and explore topics such as comedic expressions of Black motherhood, representations of Black women in television dramas and literature, and identity reclamation and self-determination. "Challenging Misrepresentations of Black Womanhood" establishes the criteria with which to examine the role of stereotypes in the lives of Black women and, more specifically, its impact on their social and psychological well-being.

List of Tables and Figures; Acknowledgements; Introduction, Marquita Gammage; Part I: Historical Conceptualizations; Historical Miseducation on Black Womanhood, Donnetrice Allison; Part II: Motherhood and Mother-Right under Question; The Virility of the Haitian Womb: The Biggest Threat to the Dominican Right, Daly Guilamo; “Black Women Are Genius!”: The Image of Celebrated Black Motherhood in Stand-Up Comedy?, Antwanisha Alameen-Shavers; Self-Perceptions and Strategies of Self-Determination among Black Women Student Parents on Campus, Sureshi M. Jayawardene and Serie McDougal III; Part III: Media, Literature and Public Perceptions of Black Womanhood; Exploring Contemporary Stereotypes of Black Womanhood in Claudia Rankine’s ‘Citizen: An American Lyric’, Raquel Kennon; Ladyhood in Distress: Black Politics in Nicole Sconiers’s ‘Escape from Beckyville’, Jalondra A. Davis; Representing the Black Woman as Immoral and Abandoning the Black Family: A Cultural Analysis of 21st Century Television Dramas Starring Black Women, Marquita Gammage; Part IV: Politics and Public Implications; Sapphires Gone Wild: The Politics of Black Women’s Respectability in the Age of the Ratchet, De Anna J. Reese and Delia C. Gillis; Michelle Obama Laughs: Political Meme Warfare and the Regurgitation of the Mythological Black Woman, Kiedra Taylor; Part V: Advocacy, Activism and Affirmation of Black Womanhood; Kawaida Womanism as an Interpretative Framework for Understanding Africana Womanhood: Analyzing African American Women’s Self-Perceptions, Marquita Gammage; List of Contributors; Index.

“A thought-provoking, African-centered examination of Black women’s efforts to reclaim their space, dignity, public image and right to self-determination against the backdrop of America’s racially charged social landscape. Brilliantly done!”
—Patricia Reid-Merritt, Distinguished Professor of Africana Studies and Social Work, Stockton University, USA