Book Review: Black Feminist Thought (Patricia Hill Collins)

Alexandra Bobet HIST 3119 Spring 2013 inexorable Feminist Thought Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment (review) forbidding Feminist Thought Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Ed. By Patricia heap Collins. (New York R bulge outledge, 2000. ii, 336 pp. Cloth, $128. 28, ISBN 0-415-92483-9. Paper, $26. 21, 0-415-92484-7. ) Patricia Hill Collinss work, Black Feminist Thought seeks to center Black Women into intersectionalist thought, addressing the power struggles that face them non only due to their race just alike to the gender.Masculine rhetoric and powerful male leaders such as Huey P. Newton and Eldridge Cleaver have overshadowed Black Womens stories, both in and out of the Civil Right Rights/Black Power Era. It is an analysis that defines Black Feminist Thought, instead of recycling former White Feminist philosophies and providing interpretations of them. However, she does integrate consciousness bringing up into the body of work, drawing in from her personal experiences while analyzing the text editions of women such as Alice Walker and bell hooks.The second edition of Black Feminist Thought differs from the prototypic in both the complexity and the depth of onerousness and empowerment, spanning into a transnational level. Collins breaks down her novel into unrivaled-third parts. Part I The Social twirl of Feminist Thought, Part II Core Themes in Black Feminist Thought, and Part III Black Feminism, Knowledge, and Power. Bobet 2 Part I The Social formulation of Feminist Thought covers the history of oppression of black women from various sectors.White feminism has failed women which use of essentialist philosophy, which Collins uses in the relationship between Rebecca Felton and Ida B Wells, the former praised by White feminists even though she was an advocate of lynching. Collins touches upon Black leadership and how it has addressed gender, in particular the case of Elaine Brown and the Black Panther companionship of Oakland. Among African-American female scholars in that location has been a concern in the masculinist bias of Black political and social thought.With these mediums of oppression, her first theory, referred to as the Matrix of Domination is brought up. forward models of oppression were considered additive, or hierarchal, meaning that they must be ranked. Collins uses the experiences of black women to explain that all these modes of oppression, gender, race and class are interlocking and equally important when viewing domination. This bleeds to a greater extents into Part II, but the essentials are discussed in this section. While there is validity in this matrix, Collinss approach is from a group level, and it does not cover how the individual may use the matrix.While it is true that all these modes of oppression are at play, it would be more beneficial for the individual to place a value on these modes. For one individual, race may be more of a factor than gen der, for another individual it may differ, and so on. Another limited review of the matrix of oppression is how it does not address, sexual orientation, ableism, and ethnicity, among others. Part II Core Themes in Black Feminist Thought tackles five themes 1) a legacy of struggle, 2) intercession of the interlocking nature of race, class, and gender, 3) Bobet 3 eplacement of stereotyped images of black womanhood with those that are self defined, 4) black womens activism, and 5) sensitivity to black sexual politics. The first three themes correlate to black motherhood and living in a binary environment, one in which black passel are the oppressed and white people are the oppressors. Images of black womanhood have been terribly distorted to show stereotypes such as the unwed teenage mother and the welfare mother.Black womens activism, one of the last core themes of the text, has been more of a desire for group survival and cohesion than any political motives, as seen with the story of Sara Brooks and her job as a domestic worker. Her job speaks larger volumes to political activism and the nature of oppression than more political texts, according to Collins. This outlook parallels many of bell hookss essays, especially Theory As A Liberatory Practice. This essay addresses the powers of the Sara Brookses of the world and how their actions complement the discourse that is being forged.Part III Black Feminism, Knowledge, and Power comprises of the edits not found in the first edition. Drawing from experiences from Senegalese, American, and British Black feminists, the matrix of race, gender, and class oppressions are still relevant to all nations, despite diversity. Angela Davis is frequently cited as a thaumaturgist of this transnational empowerment She encourages Black Women of privilege to not ignore the straits of our sisters who are acquainted with the immediacy of oppression in a way many of us are not, fueling Collinss core theme of a type of feminism r ooted in sisterhood and familial ties.Analysis of oppression from a nationalistic point of view is represented, drawing further from her original gender/race/class matrix. Bobet 4 To conclude, Black Feminist Thought is careful and crucial text because of how vigilantly it attempts (and successfully so) to not be another spin on White feminism. Using the methodological approach of historical materialism, it addresses the concerns that Black women have on the heels of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements.Concerns with the narrative are that while it does explain the roots of consciousness raising and feminist thought in Black Power movements, the overwhelming amount of text is based on the interpretations of writers such as Alice Walker, bell hooks, and Audre Lorde, much less on intellectuals. Collins touches upon the efforts of Elaine Brown, Angela Davis, and also provides a personal account of Francis Beale and her experience with racism in SNCC. Beales experiences with sexis m, for example influenced her essay, Black Womens Manifesto Double Jeopardy To Be Black and A Woman. I found Collinss assertion of what is a feminist to be inclusionary and not in any way rejecting masculinity, but more how the masculine rhetoric that has oppressed women should be rejected. Black feminist rhetoric created in backlash has centered on community awareness, and a sense of individualism through a group. While Collins alludes to capitalism as also being a contributing factor in the oppression of Black women, there was not as much concrete evidence to support that as much as there was racism and sexism. Patricia Hill Collins forms a text that finally draws a map into the complexity of oppression and empowerment.