Birthing Black Mothers

Jennifer C. Nash is Jean Fox O’Barr Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies at Duke University and author of The Black Body in Ecstasy: Reading Race, Reading Pornography and Black Feminism Reimagined, both also published by Duke University Press.

• Acknowledgments  ixIntroduction. The Afterlives of Malaysia Goodson, or Black Mothering in Crisis  11. Black Gold: Remaking Black Breasts in an Era of Crisis  312. In the Room: Birthwork by Women of Color in a State of Emergency  693. Black Maternal Aesthetics: The Making of a Noncrisis Style  1034. Writing Black Motherhood: Black Maternal Memoirs and Economies of Grief  133Conclusion. The Afterlives of Jazmine Headley  173Coda. "All Mothers Were Summoned when George Floyd Called Out for His Mama"  179Notes  187Bibliography  209Index  235

“Viewing Black motherhood as a trending political site, Jennifer C. Nash boldly pushes Black feminists to reflect critically on their own embrace of crisis rhetoric that casts Black maternal bodies as mere symbols of state violence marked by suffering, trauma, and grief. While powerfully arguing we risk reproducing Black mothers as problems in need of intervention and relying on low-wage Black birthworkers to save them, Nash points to ways we can theorize new forms of Black maternal freedom that refuse confinement to a marketed crisis frame.” - Dorothy Roberts, author of (Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty) “Investigating the fraught position in which Black mothers find themselves and the complex ways they engage with the discourse of crisis that is attached to them, Birthing Black Mothers will generate a wonderfully complex debate in Black feminism. The difficult conversations that Jennifer C. Nash’s arguments will incite are well worth the discomfort. This brilliant book is the most exciting piece of scholarship I have read this year.” - Khiara M. Bridges, author of (The Poverty of Privacy Rights) "[An] essential examination of Black motherhood and its layered complexities of representation, performance, gaze, critique, precarity and politics." - Karla Strand (Ms.) "Birthing Black Mothers is a highly relevant and accessible work that will appeal to students interested in various aspects of Black motherhood, as well as to a broader audience outside academia. Jennifer Nash's depiction of the contemporary crisis enriches ongoing debates around Black motherhood." - Etyelle Pinheiro de Araujo (E3W Review of Books) "Birthing Black Mothers is an insightful and important analysis of black motherhood in the contemporary moment. . . . Nash’s most significant contribution lies in the questions she asks of black feminists; what happens when 'Black feminist innovations' are absorbed by the very institutions they are meant to challenge? What are the consequences of getting a rickety seat at an intrinsically unjust table?" - Patricia Hamilton (Ethnic and Racial Studies) "Birthing Black Women is essential reading for those interested in reproductive justice, Black feminism, public health, and media studies."- Jennifer Musial (Resources for Gender and Women's Studies) "The contemporary content and ingenious writing style of the author create numerous points to engage students in various subjects ranging from reproductive rights to social class, thus making it perfect for both undergraduate and graduate students. The book would easily lend itself to a women’s and gender studies or sociology program, but facilitators would be remiss to ignore the social movement underpinnings, making it ideal for political science or criminal justice courses with an emphasis on inequality, social justice, and race." - Shauntey James (Gender & Society)