Imagining Black womanhood : the negotiation of power and identity within the Girls Empowerment Project / Stephanie D. Sears.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sears, Stephanie D., 1964-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Womanism--United States.

Womanism.

African American girls.

Women, Black--United States.

Women, Black.

Identity (Philosophical concept).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (205 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Imagining Black Womanhood illuminates the experiences of the women and girls of the Girls Empowerment Project, an Afrocentric, womanist, single sex after-school program located in one of the Bay Area's largest and most impoverished housing developments. Stephanie Sears carefully examines the stakes of the complex negotiations of Black womanhood for both the girls served by the project and for the women who staffed it. Rather than a multigenerational alliance committed to women's and girls' empowerment, the women and girls often appeared to struggle against each other, with the girls' "politics of respect" often in conflict with the staff's "politics of respectability," a conflict especially highlighted in the public contexts of dance performances. This ground-breaking case study offers significant insights into practices of resistance, identity work, youth empowerment, cultural politics and organizational power.

Contents:

Girls Empowerment Project

Controlling "the urban girl"

GEP's culture of empowerment

GEP's organizational structure and power matrix

Africentric womanism meets decent girl femininity

Dance lessons

Conclusion : imagining Black womanhood, imagining social change.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781438433288

143843328X

9781441674166

1441674160

OCLC:

670429703