Black Feminist Anthropology: Theory, Politics, Praxis, and Poetics

In the discipline's early days, anthropologists by definition were assumed to be white and male. Women and black scholars were relegated to the field's periphery. From this marginal place, white feminist anthropologists have successfully carved out an acknowledged intellectual space, identified as feminist anthropology. Unfortunately, the works of black and non-western feminist anthropologists are rarely cited, and they have yet to be respected as significant shapers of the direction and transformation of feminist anthropology.

In this volume, Irma McClaurin has collected-for the first time-essays that explore the role and contributions of black feminist anthropologists. She has asked her contributors to disclose how their experiences as black women have influenced their anthropological practice in Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States, and how anthropology has influenced their development as black feminists. Every chapter is a unique journey that enables the reader to see how scholars are made. The writers present material from their own fieldwork to demonstrate how these experiences were shaped by their identities. Finally, each essay suggests how the author's field experiences have influenced the theoretical and methodological choices she has made throughout her career.

Not since Diane Wolf's Feminist Dilemmas in the Field or Hortense Powdermaker's Stranger and Friend have we had such a breadth of women anthropologists discussing the critical (and personal) issues that emerge when doing ethnographic research.

Author: Irma McClaurin
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Published: 08/01/2001
Pages: 296
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.88lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780813529264

Review Citation(s):
Multicultural Review 03/01/2002 pg. 94
Choice 04/01/2002 pg. 1463
Reference and Research Bk News 02/01/2002 pg. 60

About the Author
Dr. Irma McClaurin, Black Feminist Speaker, is the CEO of Irma McClaurin Solutions (IMS), aka McClaurin Solutions, a leadership consulting business, an activist anthropologist, award-winning author, black feminist archive founder, diversity champion, and community engagement specialist. She specializes in helping others find immediate and sustainable solutions to emerging and urgent issues. McClaurin offers support as a leadership consultant and guru, an executive coach, researcher, motivational speaker, workshop facilitator, writer/editor, and diversity strategist. This Black feminist speaker is also a Solutions Executive and a past president of Shaw University, former Chief Diversity Officer at Teach For America, free-lance writer and editor, and mentorwho has committed her life and career to helping others transform the world. She holds the PhD and MA in Anthropology and the Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) in English, both from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.