Dr. Fenobia I. Dallas ::: Teaching Afrafeminism

::: afrafeminism :::

One way to effectively include African Americans in a pedagogy of social justice is to consider an Afrafeminist viewpoint. This Afrafeminist view could be considered a melding of feminist theory and critical race theory. In Traces of a Stream, Jacqueline Jones Royster (2000) contends that Afrafeminism is the enabling of African American women to “define ourselves in counterdistinction to the externally defined perceptions that have been assigned to us over the generations” (273).

Royster uses this term to extend a monolithic feminism, which is often associated with the viewpoint of white, middle-class women, to that of a cultural worldview for African American women. She notes that Afrafeminism reflects the “merging of specialized knowledge and community knowledge” (276). The Afrafeminist viewpoint can also serve to expand the monolithic gender issue into a fuller exploration of different perspectives. In enabling social justice to embrace a more inclusionary context, Afrafeminism can serve as a model for individuals to self-define themselves in terms of their life experiences and goals.

I argue here that it is not necessary that an Afrafeminist be an African American any more than a feminist need be a female. As there are male feminists, so should there be European American (male and female) Afrafeminists. It is not the physical reality that is the paramount issue here, but the intention to be more inclusive while not denying or defacing the choice to be "real."

A few resources from which to begin Afrafeminist critical consideration of social justice (aka *diversity*) issues:

Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands: The New Mestiza = La Frontera. 2nd. ed. San Francisco: Aunt Lute, 1999.
Awiakta, Marilou. Selu: Seeking the Corn-Mother’s Wisdom. Golden, CO: Fulcrum, 1993.
Bell, Derrick. Afrolantica Legacies. Chicago: Third World, 1998.
Benjamin, Lois, ed. Black Women in the Academy: Promises and Perils. Gainsville, FL: UP of Florida, 1997.
Cole, Johnnetta Betsch and Beverly Guy-Sheftall. Gender Talk: The Struggle for Women’s Equality in African American Communities. New York: One World, 2003.
Collins, Patricia Hill. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1990.
Conyers, Jr. James L., ed. Afrocentricity and the Academy: Essays on Theory and Practice. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, 2003.
Crenshaw, Kimberlé W.; Neil Gotanda; Garry Peller, & Kendall Thomas, eds. Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement. New York: The New Press, 1995.
de Saussure, Ferdinand. Course in General Linguistics. Eds. Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye in collaboration with Albert Riedlinger. Trans. Wade Baskin. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1966.
Diop, Cheikh Anta. The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality. Trans. Mercer Cook. Chicago: Lawrence Hill, 1974.
Diop, Cheikh Anta. The Cultural Unity of Black African: The Domains of Matriarchy and of Patriarchy in Classical Antiquity. Lawrenceville, NJ: Red Sea Press, 1989.
Giddings, Paula. When and Where I Enter...: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America. New York: William Morrow, 1984.
Gruesser, John Cullen, ed. The Unruly Voice: Rediscovering Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins. Urbana, IL: U of Illinois P, 1996.
hooks, bell. Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations. New York: Routledge, 1994.
Hull, Gloria T.; Patricia Bell Scott, and Barbara Smith, eds. All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women’s Studies. New York: The Feminist Press, 1982.
James, Joy. Transcending the Talented Tenth: Black Leaders and American Intellectuals. Routledge: New York, 1997.
James, Joy and T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, eds. The Black Feminist Reader. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2000.
Leeman, Richard W., ed. African-American Orators: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996.
Logan, Shirley Wilson. “We Are Coming”: The Persuasive Discourse of Nineteenth-Century Black Women. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP, 1999.
Mattelart, Armand and Michèle Mattelart. Theories of Communication: A Short Introduction. Trans. Susan Gruenheck Taponier and James A. Cohen. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1998.
Maracle, Lee. Oratory: Coming to Theory. North Vancouver, BC: Gallerie, 1990.
Moraga, Cherríe, and Gloria Anzaldúa, eds. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings By Radical Women of Color. Watertown, MA: Persephone, 1981.
Royster, Jacqueline Jones. Traces of a Stream: Literacy and Social Change Among African-American Women. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 2000.
Welsing, Frances Cress. The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors. Chicago: Third World, 1991.
Williams, Patricia J. The Alchemy of Race and Rights: Diary of a Law Professor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1991.
Williams, Patricia J. The Rooster's Egg: On the Persistence of Prejudice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1995.
Willis, Deborah. Picturing Us: African American Identity in Photography. New York: New, 1994.
Witt, Doris. “Detecting Bodies: BarbaraNeely's Domestic Sleuth and the Trope of the (In)visible Woman.” Recovering the Black Female Body: Self-Representations by African American Women. Eds. Michael Bennett and Vanessa D. Dickerson. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 2001. 165-94.
Woodson, Carter G. The Mis-Education of the Negro. Reprint. Trenton, NJ: African World Press, 1990.

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Teaching afrafeminism computers cyberspacing rhetoric technology Research Service [Diva's AgenDa] [Home page]	::: afrafeminism ::: One way to effectively include African Americans in a pedagogy of social justice is to consider an Afrafeminist viewpoint. This Afrafeminist view could be considered a melding of feminist theory and critical race theory. In Traces of a Stream, Jacqueline Jones Royster (2000) contends that Afrafeminism is the enabling of African American women to “define ourselves in counterdistinction to the externally defined perceptions that have been assigned to us over the generations” (273). Royster uses this term to extend a monolithic feminism, which is often associated with the viewpoint of white, middle-class women, to that of a cultural worldview for African American women. She notes that Afrafeminism reflects the “merging of specialized knowledge and community knowledge” (276). The Afrafeminist viewpoint can also serve to expand the monolithic gender issue into a fuller exploration of different perspectives. In enabling social justice to embrace a more inclusionary context, Afrafeminism can serve as a model for individuals to self-define themselves in terms of their life experiences and goals. I argue here that it is not necessary that an Afrafeminist be an African American any more than a feminist need be a female. As there are male feminists, so should there be European American (male and female) Afrafeminists. It is not the physical reality that is the paramount issue here, but the intention to be more inclusive while not denying or defacing the choice to be "real." A few resources from which to begin Afrafeminist critical consideration of social justice (aka diversity) issues: Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands: The New Mestiza = La Frontera. 2nd. ed. San Francisco: Aunt Lute, 1999. Awiakta, Marilou. Selu: Seeking the Corn-Mother’s Wisdom. Golden, CO: Fulcrum, 1993. Bell, Derrick. Afrolantica Legacies. Chicago: Third World, 1998. Benjamin, Lois, ed. Black Women in the Academy: Promises and Perils. Gainsville, FL: UP of Florida, 1997. Cole, Johnnetta Betsch and Beverly Guy-Sheftall. Gender Talk: The Struggle for Women’s Equality in African American Communities. New York: One World, 2003. Collins, Patricia Hill. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1990. Conyers, Jr. James L., ed. Afrocentricity and the Academy: Essays on Theory and Practice. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, 2003. Crenshaw, Kimberlé W.; Neil Gotanda; Garry Peller, & Kendall Thomas, eds. Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement. New York: The New Press, 1995. de Saussure, Ferdinand. Course in General Linguistics. Eds. Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye in collaboration with Albert Riedlinger. Trans. Wade Baskin. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1966. Diop, Cheikh Anta. The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality. Trans. Mercer Cook. Chicago: Lawrence Hill, 1974. Diop, Cheikh Anta. The Cultural Unity of Black African: The Domains of Matriarchy and of Patriarchy in Classical Antiquity. Lawrenceville, NJ: Red Sea Press, 1989. Giddings, Paula. When and Where I Enter...: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America. New York: William Morrow, 1984. Gruesser, John Cullen, ed. The Unruly Voice: Rediscovering Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins. Urbana, IL: U of Illinois P, 1996. hooks, bell. Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations. New York: Routledge, 1994. Hull, Gloria T.; Patricia Bell Scott, and Barbara Smith, eds. All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women’s Studies. New York: The Feminist Press, 1982. James, Joy. Transcending the Talented Tenth: Black Leaders and American Intellectuals. Routledge: New York, 1997. James, Joy and T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, eds. The Black Feminist Reader. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2000. Leeman, Richard W., ed. African-American Orators: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996. Logan, Shirley Wilson. “We Are Coming”: The Persuasive Discourse of Nineteenth-Century Black Women. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP, 1999. Mattelart, Armand and Michèle Mattelart. Theories of Communication: A Short Introduction. Trans. Susan Gruenheck Taponier and James A. Cohen. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1998. Maracle, Lee. Oratory: Coming to Theory. North Vancouver, BC: Gallerie, 1990. Moraga, Cherríe, and Gloria Anzaldúa, eds. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings By Radical Women of Color. Watertown, MA: Persephone, 1981. Royster, Jacqueline Jones. Traces of a Stream: Literacy and Social Change Among African-American Women. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 2000. Welsing, Frances Cress. The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors. Chicago: Third World, 1991. Williams, Patricia J. The Alchemy of Race and Rights: Diary of a Law Professor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1991. Williams, Patricia J. The Rooster's Egg: On the Persistence of Prejudice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1995. Willis, Deborah. Picturing Us: African American Identity in Photography. New York: New, 1994. Witt, Doris. “Detecting Bodies: BarbaraNeely's Domestic Sleuth and the Trope of the (In)visible Woman.” Recovering the Black Female Body: Self-Representations by African American Women. Eds. Michael Bennett and Vanessa D. Dickerson. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 2001. 165-94. Woodson, Carter G. The Mis-Education of the Negro. Reprint. Trenton, NJ: African World Press, 1990. [top]
This page last updated August 2009 by Charlene La Chatte for Blak Kat Productions. copyright © 1999-2009 \| Fenobia I. Dallas