AfAm 293J - Midterm Study Guide

Feminism

 in its most general sense, refer to advocating for the political, economic and social equality of the sexes 

Feminism - Paula Treichler and Cheris Kramarae,“Feminism” “Feminist’ in FeministTheory: A Reader

 feminism is a political movement, a social theory, and a personal commitment to the liberation of women and the dismantling of gender-based inequalities.

Feminism - Grimke, Sarah. 1838. Excerpt from “Letters on the Equality of the Sexes,” pp. 65-67, In Feminist Theory: A Reader

women's equality and their right to education, based on the belief that women, like men, possess inherent intellectual and moral capacities. Grimké’s feminism is grounded in egalitarian principles that challenge the traditional view of women’s inferiority and advocate for equal rights for women in both the public and private spheres.

Feminism - Stanton, Elizabeth Cady. 1848. Excerpt from “Declaration of Sentiments” pp. 67-69, In Feminist Theory: A Reader

explicitly define the term “feminism” as it is understood today, but her principles and demands reflect the core tenets of early feminist thought. Stanton’s feminism is centered on gender equality and the full recognition of women's rights in all areas of life, including political, legal, economic, and social spheres.

Feminism - Truth, Sojourner. 1851 and 1867. “Ain’t I a Woman?” and “Keeping the Thing Going,” pp. 75-76, In Feminist Theory: A Reader -

 Her feminism challenges the exclusion of Black women from mainstream feminist and abolitionist movements and advocates for the equality of all women, with particular attention to the unique struggles faced by Black women.

Black Feminism - Black Feminist Statement by Combahee River Collective: Black feminism

a framework that recognizes the unique oppression that Black women face. The oppressions (racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism) are interlocking and often not recognized by many groups. 

Black Feminism - The Social Construction of Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins

Black feminism is a unique body of knowledge shaped by the lived experiences of Black women. Challenges the idea that knowledge should come from academia or white male dominated spaces. 

African Feminism - African Feminism: A Worldwide Perspective by Filomina Chioma Steady:

African feminism as a distinct feminist framework that emerges from the historical, social, and cultural experiences of African women. African feminism focuses on the interconnected struggles of race, gender, class, culture  and colonialism

Womanism - Walker, Alice. 1983. “Womanism” p. 19 In The Womanist Reader

Allice Walker introduces womanism as a framework that centers Black women’s experiences, culture, and struggles while embracing both gender and racial justice.Womanism extends beyond mainstream feminism by recognizing the unique oppression Black women face due to the intersection of race, gender, and class.

Africana Womanism - Hudson-Weems, Clenora. 1993. “Africana Womanism,” pp. 44-54 In The Womanist Reader:

Africana Womanism as a feminist framework that centers the unique historical, cultural, and socio-political experiences of Africana (African-descended) women. Racism is the first issue and sexism is secondary. 

Double Jeopardy

Intersection of race and gender. Black women experience both racism and sexism but this term does not fully capture the complexity of multiple intersecting oppressions

Multiple Jeopardy

Intersecting and compounding effects of race, gender and class oppressions. Oppressions are multiplicative and intensify marginalization. 

Misogynoir

Misogynoir is a term coined by Moya Bailey to describe the specific forms of anti-Black misogyny that Black women face. Misogynoir accounts for how racism and sexism combine to shape stereotypes, media portrayals, healthcare disparities, and violence against Black women. It makes visible how Black women’s struggles are distinct from those of white women or Black men, addressing their erasure and neglect in mainstream feminism and racial justice movements.

Intersectionality

Intersectionality explains how multiple social identities (race,gender, class and even sexuality) intersect to create distinct experiences of oppression. Black women do not experience racism the same way as black men or sexism the same way as white women.

Performance of Gender

Performance of gender is the idea that gender is not something we inherently are, but something we do.

Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman escaped slavery in 1849 and returned to the South multiple times, helping other enslaved people gain freedom.Harriet Tubman’s activism challenges traditional feminist narratives by demonstrating how Black women’s struggles against slavery, racism, and gender oppression were inherently interconnected. Tubman defied 19th-century gender norms by taking on roles typically reserved for men, such as leading armed raids during the Civil War and guiding enslaved people to freedom through the Underground Railroad.

Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth was born as Isabella Baumfree in 1797 in New York and was enslaved for nearly 30 years before gaining her freedom in 1827.In 1851, she gave her famous speech ”Ain't I A Woman?”, challenging both racism and sexism by arguing that Black women deserved the same rights as white women. In Sojourner Truth’s speech "Keeping the Thing Going While Things Are Stirring" she passionately argued for the inclusion of Black women in the fight for suffrage, warning that if they were left behind, they would continue to be oppressed even after the abolition of slavery.

Anna Julia Cooper

Anna Julia Cooper was born in 1858 in North Carolina to an enslaved mother but went on to become one of the first Black women in the U.S. to earn a Ph.D. (from the University of Paris-Sorbonne in 1925). In "The Status of Woman in America" (1892), Anna Julia Cooper presents a powerful argument for the role of Black women in shaping America’s future, positioning them as central to both racial progress and gender equality.Cooper asserts that a country’s true advancement depends on how it treats its women.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Elizabeth Cady Stanton is a leader in the women’s rights movement, co-organizer of the Seneca Falls Convention, and co-author of the Declaration of Sentiments. Stanton opens by declaring that women, like men, are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. She argues that women have been subjected to systematic oppression by men, much like the American colonies were oppressed by the British monarchy. 

Sarah Grimke

Sarah Grimke is an abolitionist, feminist, and women's rights advocate.The Declaration of Sentiments to mirror the Declaration of Independence, emphasizing that women’s oppression is as unjust as the tyranny the American colonies faced under Britain Women are denied the right to vote. Follow laws they have no role in creating. Married women have no legal rights. Women are excluded from higher education and most professions. Different moral codes for men and women regarding divorce and sexual conduct.

Combahee River Collective

Combahee River Collective is a Black feminist lesbian organization that pioneered intersectional feminism before the term was formally coined.The Collective argued that Black women experience multiple, interconnected forms of oppression—not just racism and sexism, but also classism and heterosexism. They stated that if Black women were freed from oppression, all other oppressed groups would also benefit, as they are at the bottom of the social hierarchy.

Patricia Hill Collins

Patricia Hill Collins developed Black feminist thought, advancing intersectionality, and critiquing systems of oppression.Patricia Hill Collins examines how Black feminist knowledge is created, controlled, and resisted within society. Collins challenges the idea that legitimate knowledge must come from academia or white, male-dominated institutions. Black feminist thought emerges from the everyday lives of Black women, including oral traditions, music, literature, and activism.

Deborah King

Deborah King expanded the concept of intersectionality with her theory of multiple jeopardy. She wrote Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness: The Context of a Black Feminist Ideology". King builds on the idea of intersectionality (later coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw) by introducing the term multiple jeopardy.She argues that Black women do not just face racism + sexism + classism separately, but these oppressions interact and intensify each other.

Francis Beale

Francis Beale is a Black feminist, civil rights activist, and co-founder of the Third World Women’s AllianceOne of the earliest and most influential texts of Black feminism, published in 1969. Beale argues that Black women face “double jeopardy”—oppression based on both race and gender. She critiques both white feminism (for ignoring race) and Black liberation movements (for ignoring gender). She also highlights the role of capitalism in the oppression of Black women, making her argument both intersectional and socialist.

Kimberle Crenshaw

Kimberle Crenshaw is a pioneer of the concept of intersectionality and contributing to critical race theory (CRT). Intersectionality argues that Black women (and others at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities) experience unique forms of discrimination that cannot be explained by just looking at race or gender independently.

Moya Bailey

Moya Bailey is pioneering work on misogynoir, intersectionality, and digital activism. Misogynoir is a term specifically created to highlight the unique forms of discrimination Black women face, which are shaped by both racism and sexism.The term seeks to fill a gap in feminist and racial discourse, which often fails to address the compounded nature of Black women’s oppression, particularly in terms of how Black women are marginalized and mistreated in both racial and gendered ways.

Filomena Chioma Steady

Filomena Chioma Steady developed African feminism and contributed to the global understanding of gender and women’s rights in Africa, particularly within the context of African women’s social, economic, and political realities. She wrote African Feminism: A Worldwide Perspective.Steady argues that African feminism is not a monolithic movement, but one deeply rooted in African women’s experiences, shaped by their cultural, economic, and social realities.

Clenora Hudson-Weems

Clenora Hudson-Weems is widely recognized for developing Africana Womanism, a feminist ideology that originates from the unique experiences of Black women in the African diaspora.

Alice Walker

Alice Walker made literary contributions, especially the novel The Color Purple, and her advocacy for racial, gender, and social justice.Womanism is centered around the experiences and struggles of Black women, particularly in the context of their cultural identity and community. Walker’s womanism emphasizes the importance of family, community bonds, and spirituality, contrasting it with more individualistic feminist ideologies.

Idea of lady/woman in Jamaica

Uptown Ladies: Typically lighter-skinned, from wealthier backgrounds, associated with European beauty standards and respectability politics

.Downtown Women: Darker-skinned, working-class, often perceived as hypersexualized, aggressive, and less respectable.

Dancehall Queen Film and dancehall as a space of liberation or oppression for women

Dancehall Queen is a 1997 Jamaican film that explores the life of a young woman named Marcia who struggles with her socio-economic circumstances and finds empowerment through the dancehall scene. Set in the vibrant and often volatile world of Jamaican dancehall culture, the film offers a complex portrayal of the dancehall space, highlighting both its liberating and oppressive elements for women.Marcia, the protagonist, uses dancehall culture as a form of self-expression, where she can transform from a modest and oppressed woman into a confident and empowered performer.dancehall offers a space for women to express themselves, it is also steeped in misogynistic views and practices.

Women in indigenous African societies

Sudarkasa argues that the reality of gender roles and women’s empowerment in many pre-colonial African societies is far more nuanced than the common portrayal in Western scholarship.Women were crucial contributors to the economy, particularly through farming, trade, and craft production.

African-American women missionaries

Sylvia Jacobs’ chapter examines the experiences of African American women missionaries in Africa and the cultural tensions they faced. These women sought to spread Christianity and Western education but often clashed with African traditions, particularly regarding gender roles and family structures. While they provided opportunities for African women, their work also contributed to the erosion of indigenous customs. Ultimately, they occupied a complex role as both uplifters and enforcers of Western ideals, navigating racial discrimination from white missionaries while also imposing colonial influences on African communities.

Women in African Independent churches

 In Bennetta Jules-Rosette's work, she explores the role of women in African Independent Churches (AICs), highlighting their significant but often marginalized participation. Women in AICs played crucial roles in church leadership, particularly in spiritual and community services, yet they faced limitations due to patriarchal structures. Despite their limited formal authority, women were able to express a sense of autonomy and religious power, especially through their roles as healers and leaders in women's groups. The dynamics within AICs reflect a tension between women’s agency and the broader social and religious structures that limit their full empowerment.

Nervous Conditions - Gender and social norms

The novel highlights how women are expected to be submissive and prioritize domestic duties over education and personal ambitions.Tambu fights against these expectations by pursuing an education, while Maiguru struggles with her role as an educated yet financially dependent wife.

Colonization

Colonialism shapes many of the conflicts in Nervous Conditions, particularly through the British education system and its impact on identity. Characters like Nyasha and Tambu experience tension between traditional Shona culture and the colonial values imposed through education and religion.

Education

Education in the novel is both a tool for empowerment and a source of alienation. While Tambu sees it as her path to freedom, Nyasha becomes disillusioned by the colonial influence embedded within it.

Religion

Christianity, introduced through colonial rule, is presented as superior to traditional Shona spiritual beliefs. Babamukuru, as the head of the family, enforces Christian practices, such as insisting on a church wedding for Jeremiah and Mainini to “legitimize” their marriage.

Tambu’s Transformation

Tambu struggles with class and gender inequalities throughout the novel. At home, she is expected to conform to traditional gender roles, where girls are denied education and expected to do domestic work. At the mission school, she gains opportunities but begins to distance herself from her rural background, creating internal conflict about her identity.

Social Conflicts

The novel highlights gender and class conflicts, particularly in the opportunities given to men versus women.Tambu fights for her education, despite societal expectations that prioritize her brother Nhamo’s schooling over hers.Nyasha experiences conflict with her father, Babamukuru, who represents patriarchal and colonial authority, leading to her rebellion and mental health struggles.

Generation

There is a clear generational divide in the novel between older and younger characters regarding gender roles, education, and colonial influence. Babamukuru and Maiguru, having been educated within colonial systems, believe in discipline and obedience, whereas Nyasha resists these structures. Tambu’s mother (Mainini) represents traditional expectations of women, warning Tambu against the dangers of education and independence.

Cultural Change

The novel explores the tension between traditional Shona culture and Western colonial influence.Tambu initially embraces Western education as a means of self-improvement but later realizes that it comes with cultural alienation.Nyasha, having lived in England, struggles to fit into either culture, highlighting the pain of cultural transformation and its effects on identity.

Cultural hybridity

Many characters experience cultural hybridity, being influenced by both Shona traditions and British colonial values. Tambu exists in a liminal space, navigating both rural life and Western education, struggling to find a balance.Nyasha embodies extreme hybridity, as her Western upbringing clashes with Shona expectations, leading to emotional and psychological distress.