The Black Girlhood Studies Collection
Edited by Aria S. Halliday
December 2019
Print ISBN: 9780889616127
Overview
This groundbreaking text is one of the first collections to exclusively explore, develop, and evaluate theories of Black girls and Black girlhoods. This contributed volume brings together emerging and established scholars from North America to discuss what Black girlhood means historically and in the 21st century, and how concepts of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, religion, and nationality inform or affect identities of Black girls beyond school or urban settings. Divided into two sections, special topics covered include Black feminism, intersectionality, pleasure and erotic agency, media and fan activism, construction of self, leadership, social change, toxic masculinity, and self-care. The Black Girlhood Studies Collection is a vital resource that will evoke meaningful discussion and change for students in African studies, Black studies, child and youth studies, gender and women studies, media studies, and sociology courses globally.
FEATURES
- engages in contributions from emerging and established scholars from a breadth of diverse disciplines and backgrounds
- includes pedagogical features such as a chapter introductions and conclusions, keywords, discussion questions, and glossaries
Related Titles
Table of Contents
Foreword: Making Fire with Light
Ruth Nicole Brown
Introduction
Aria S. Halliday
Chapter 1: Theorizing Black Girlhood
Ashley L. Smith
Chapter 2: Contesting Black Girlhoods beyond Northern Borders: Exploring a Black African Girl Approach
Jen Katshunga
Chapter 3: The Politics of Black Girlhood and a Ratchet Imaginary
Amoni Thompson-Jones
Chapter 4: Ah Suh Yuh Bad?: How Bad Gyals Are Revolutionizing How Black Girls Resist and Transcend Toxicity during Girlhood
Kimberley Moore
Chapter 5: Role Models Matter: Black Girls and Political Leadership Possibilities
Wendy Smooth and Elaine Richardson
Chapter 6: Pushing the Limits in Black Girl Centered Research: Exploring the Methodological Possibilities of Melt Magazine
Sheri K. Lewis
Chapter 7: Self-Care and Community: Black Girls Saving Themselves
Caroline Kaltefleiter and Karmelisha Alexander
Chapter 8: “Take the Kinks out Your Mind, Not Your Hair”: The Politics of Black Canadian Girl’s Hair and Self-Love
Shaunasea Brown
Chapter 9: “We Need a Seat at the Table”: Black Girls Using New Media to Construct Black Identity
Kisha McPherson
Chapter 10: “Canon: Brown Eyes, Frizzy Hair and Very Clever”: Fan Art, Fan Activism and Black Hermione Granger
Megan Connor
Afterword: A Meditation on (Re)imagining a World with Black Girls
Claudine “Candy” Taaffe
Contributor Biographies
Index
Reviews
“The field of Black Girlhood Studies deserves a book this beautiful, this powerful, and this affirming. Halliday has put together a collection of works that truly loves Black girls. Each chapter is unique and interdisciplinary. It asks us to explore how we understand Black girlhood today. Don’t just read this book: deeply study it. The collective knowledge within these pages will push the field and our communities for years to come.”
—Dr. Bettina L. Love, Department of Educational Theory & Practice, University of Georgia
“This collection, expertly edited by the emerging and ambitious scholar Aria Halliday, is both an inoculation and an antidote, as well as a testament to the exponential power of Black girlhood studies. Her curation of ten thoughtful essays embraces the international bounds of Black girls’ racialized and sexualized childhoods and makes it mentally as well as intellectually recognizable for avid readers, educators, activists, and social scientists. The text is a savvy reframing of the too-often denied legibility of Black girls’ worthiness—their need for protection, play, security, imagination, and prevention from harm. It also authorizes the leaders who grant voice and agency to girls (rather than women) in scholarly pursuits. The Black Girlhood Studies Collection is its own world-making of the past, present, and future, reshaping the context in which Black girls can finally shine.”
—Dr. Kyra D. Gaunt, University at Albany, SUNY, and author of The Games Black Girls Play: Learning the Ropes from Double-Dutch to Hip-Hop, a prize-winning book that contributed to the emergence of hip-hop feminism and black girlhood studies
“This groundbreaking collection brings together some of the most brilliant emerging and leading scholars in Black Girlhood Studies. Offering both intellectually rigorous and deeply affective insights, this collection shows us why we need Black Girlhood Studies and how to do it well. This is the collection Black girls deserve.”
—Dr. Treva Lindsey, Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, The Ohio State University