Abstract
This entry explains the concept black feminist thought (BFT). It is a tool of empowerment for oppressed women forced to live a life of double consciousness. The basic assumptions of BFT are discussed in addition to a few exemplar studies using it to explain African American women's experiences with racism, classism, and sexism. Directions for future research are also discussed.
References
- Alexander, M.J. and Mohanty, C.T. (1997) Feminist Genealogies, Colonial Legacies, Democratic Futures, Routledge, New York.
- Alinia, M. (2015) On Black Feminist Thought: thinking oppression and resistance through intersectional paradigm. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 38 (13), 2334–2340. doi: 10.1080/01419870.2015.1058492.
- Andrews, V.L. (2003) Self-reflection and the reflected self: African American double consciousness and the social (psychological) mirror. Journal of African American Studies, 7, 59–79.
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- Chesney-Lind, M., Okamoto, S.K., and Irwin, K. (2006) Thoughts on feminist mentoring: experiences of faculty members from two generations in the academy. Critical Criminology, 14 (1), 1–21.
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- Collins, P.H. (1986) Learning from the outsider within: the sociological significance of black feminist thought. Social Problems, 33 (6), 14–32.
- Collins, P.H. (1989a) The social construction of black feminist thought. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 14 (4), 745–773.
- Collins, P.H. (1989b) A comparison of two works on black family life. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 14, 875–884.
- Collins, P.H. (1990) Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment, Routledge, New York.
- Collins, P.H. (1993) Setting our own agenda. The Black Scholar, 23 (3–4), 52–55.
- Collins, P.H. (1996a) Sociological visions and revisions. Contemporary Sociology, 25 (3), 328–331.
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- Collins, P.H. (1996b) What's in a name? Womanism, black feminism, and beyond. The Black Scholar, 26 (1), 9–17.
- P.H. Collins (ed.) (1998) Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Social Justice, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN, pp. 124–154.
- Collins, P.H. (2000) The Social Construction of Black Feminist Thought, 2nd edn, Routledge, New York.
- Collins, P.H. (2002) Learning from the outsider within: the sociological significance of black feminist thought, in Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Higher Education (ed. C.S. Turner, A.L. Antonio, M. Garcia, et al.), Pearson Custom, Boston, MA, pp. 14–32.
- Collins, P.H. (2015) Intersectionality's definitional dilemmas. Annual Review of Sociology, 41 (1), 1–20.
- Gist, C.D. (2016) A black feminist interpretation: reading life, pedagogy, and Emilie. Meridians, 15 (1), 245–268. doi: 10.2979/meridians.15.1.13.
- Grant, C.M. (2012) Advancing our legacy: a black feminist perspective on the significance of mentoring for African-American women in educational leadership. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 25 (1), 101–117. doi: 10.1080/09518398.2011.647719.
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- Grant, C.M. and Ghee, S. (2015) Mentoring 101: advancing African-American women faculty and doctoral student success in predominantly white institutions. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 28 (7), 759–785. doi: 10.1080/09518398.2015.1036951.
- Griffin, R.A. (2012) I am an angry black woman: black feminist autoethnography, voice, and resistance. Women's Studies in Communication, 35, 138–157.
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- Griffin, R.A. (2016) Pushing into Precious: black women, media representation, and the glare of the white supremacist capitalist patriarchal gaze. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 31 (3), 182–197. doi: 10.1080/15295036.2013.849354.
- Hall, K. (2016) A transnational black feminist framework: rooting in feminist scholarship, framing contemporary black activism. Meridians, 15 (1), 86–105. doi: 10.2979/meridians.15.1.06.
- Hartsock, N.C.M. (1983) The feminist standpoint: developing the ground for a specifically feminist historical materialism, in Discovering Reality: Feminist Perspectives on Epistemology, Metaphysics, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science (ed. S. Harding and M. Hintikka), Reidel, Boston, MA, pp. 283–310.
- Henderson, T.L., Hunter, A.G., and Hildreth, G.J. (2010) Outsiders within the academy: strategies for resistance and mentoring African American women. Michigan Family Review, 14 (1), 28–41.
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- Jacobs, C.E. (2016) Developing the “oppositional gaze”: using critical media pedagogy and black feminist thought to promote black girls' identity development. Journal of Negro Education, 85 (3), 225–238. doi: 10.7709/jnegroeducation.85.3.0225.
10.7709/jnegroeducation.85.3.0225 Google Scholar
- Johnson, L. (2015) From the anti-slavery movement to now: (re) examining the relationship between critical race theory and black feminist thought. Race, Gender & Class, 22 (3/4), 227.
- Jones, B., Hwang, E., and Bustamante, R.M. (2015) African American female professors' strategies for successful attainment of tenure and promotion at predominately white institutions: it can happen. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 10 (2), 133–151. doi: 10.1177/1746197915583934.
- Lomax, T.A. (2016) Technology of living: toward a black feminist religious thought. The Black Scholar, 46 (2), 19–32. doi: 10.1080/00064246.2016.1147993.
- Mirza, H.S. (1997) Black British Feminism: A Reader, Routledge, New York.
- Pereira, A.C. (2015) Power, knowledge and black feminist thought's enduring contribution towards social justice. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 38 (13), 2329–2333. doi: 10.1080/01419870.2015.1058494.
- Pérez, M.S. and Williams, E. (2014) Black feminist activism: theory as generating collective resistance. Multicultural Perspectives, 16 (3), 125–132. doi: 10.1080/15210960.2014.922883.
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- Robinson, S.J. (2013) Spoketokenism: black women talking back about graduate school experiences. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 16 (2), 155–181. doi: 10.1080/13613324.2011.645567.
- Spitzack, C. and Carter, K. (1987) Women in communication studies: a typology for revision. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 73 (4), 401–423.
- Walkington, L. (2017) How far have we really come? Black women faculty and graduate students' experiences in higher education. Humboldt Journal of Social Relations, 39, 51–65.
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Further Readings
- Collins, P.H. (2008) Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment, 3rd edn, Routledge, New York.
- Harris, T.M. (2007) Black feminist thought and cultural contracts: understanding the intersection and negotiation of racial, gendered, and professional identities in the academy. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 110, 55–64.
10.1002/tl.274 Google Scholar
- Howard-Hamilton, M.F. (2004) Theoretical frameworks for African American women. New Directions for Student Services, 2003 (104), 19–27.
10.1002/ss.104 Google Scholar
- Jones, T.B., Wilder, J., and Osborne-Lampkin, L. (2013) Employing a black feminist approach to doctoral advising: preparing black women for the professoriate. Journal of Negro Education, 82 (3), 326–338. doi: 10.7709/jnegroeducation.82.3.0326.
10.7709/jnegroeducation.82.3.0326 Google Scholar
- Kramarae, C. (1981) Women and Men Speaking: Frameworks for Analysis, Newbury House, Rowley, MA.
- Lorde, A. (1982) Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, Crossing Press, Trumansburg, NY.
- Rousseau, N. (2013) Historical womanist theory: re-visioning black feminist thought. Race, Gender & Class, 20 (3–4), 191–204.
