Black Feminist Sociology

Zakiya Luna is Associate Professor of Sociology and Dean’s Distinguished Professorial Scholar at Washington University in Saint Louis.Whitney N. Laster Pirtle is Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences and Sociology at the University of California of Los Angeles.Jasmine Kelekay is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Howard University

• 1.Foreword. 2.Acknowledgements. 3.Introduction to the Second Edition. 4.Editorial Assistants’ Reflection. 5.Introduction: Black Feminist Sociology is the Past, Present and Future of Sociology. Period. Part 1 Revisiting Legacies of Black Feminist Sociology and How They Ground Us. 6.Black Feminist Sociology: An Interview With Patricia Hill Collins. 7.The Black Feminist Roots of Scholar-Activism: Lessons From Ida B. Wells-Barnett. 8.The Radical Black Feminism Project: Rearticulating A Critical Sociology. 9.The Language Through Which Black Feminist Theory Speaks: A Conversation With Jennifer C. Nash. 10.Toward a Transnational Black Feminist Sociology. Part 2 Black Feminist Sociological Communities and How They Speak to Us. 11.Reflections on Re-Creating Biological Race and the Entrapment of Black People. 12.Centering US: What Doing Black Feminist Sociology Really Looks Like. 13.Nothing About US, Without US: Reinscribing Black Feminism in Sociology. 14.#BlackGirlMagic and Its Complexities. 15.Learning, Teaching, Re-Membering and Enacting Black Feminist Sociology at a Black Women’s College: Love Letters to One Another. Part 3 Black Feminist Sociology Epistemologies and What They Reveal to Us. 16.Black Feminist Sociology and the Politics of Space and Place at the Intersection of Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality. 17.Global Health and BFS: Diasporic Research and Interventions Rooted in Advocacy. 18.Family Background and the Meanings of Economic Autonomy for Black Lesbian Women. 19.“Kantsaywhere”: Black African Women Inside the Australian Racial Crucible. 20.Black Feminist Piety: A Framework for Engaging Islam in Black Feminist Sociology. 21.“Who Are You Accountable to in This World? :Black Feminist Inspiration for Research. Part 4 Black Feminist Sociological Methodologies and What They Teach Us. 22.Love, Loss and Loyalty: A Black Feminist Reading of Black Girlhood. 23.Black Feminist Epistemological Methodology: Bridging Theory and Methods to Research Health and Illness. 24.Creating Oppositional Knowledge as a Black Feminist. 25.Doing It for Ourselves: Research Justice and Black Feminist Sociology. 26.For a Black Feminist Digital Sociology. Part 5 Imagining Black Feminist Sociological Futures and What They Create for Us. 27.Allyship in the Time of Aggrievement: The Case of Black Feminism and the New Black Masculinities. 28.Theorizing Embodied Carcerality: A Black Feminist Sociology of Punishment. 29.Too Intersectional: What Black Feminism and Disability Studies Can Build Together. 30.We Major: Black Trans Feminism Fights Back. 31.“Be Careful With Each Other,”and Other Lessons for Liberation. 32.On a Black Feminist Sociology of Abolition. 33.Exploring the Black Feminist Imagination. 34.Appendix A: Pedagogical Considerations for Teaching Black Feminist Sociology: Perspectives and Praxis. 35.Appendix B: Placing Ourselves–Again. 36.Appendix C: Black Feminist Sociology and Black Freedom Now.

"This book gathers the teachings of Black feminist scholars whose work has reshaped sociology—those who built the foundations of the field and those who are expanding it in bold, necessary directions. It is a collection that is timely and necessary. It brings together pioneering voices with emerging thinkers who challenge and reimagine what sociological inquiry can be. Through theory, personal narrative, and community-centered praxis, these contributors illuminate how Black feminist thought transforms both the questions we ask and the futures we envision. They demonstrate that Black feminist sociology is essential to the past, present, and future."Joyce A. Ladner, former President of Howard University"Black Feminist Sociology is a bold and necessary intervention that reshapes the possibilities of sociological inquiry. By demonstrating the transformative power of Black feminist thought, it offers a rigorous framework for confronting contemporary crises and imagining more just futures. The volume shows how Black feminist inquiry redefines the terms of evidence, expertise, and liberation through engagements with carcerality, spatial politics, community-rooted research, diasporic and transnational feminisms, digital life, and the ethics of knowledge production. These contributions illuminate the racialized and gendered structures that constrain life and possibility while modeling the intellectual and political labor required to build more livable worlds. Taken together, they reveal Black feminist sociology as a dynamic and justice-oriented practice that both critiques the present and imagines alternatives. Essential reading for sociologists and for scholars across the humanities, social sciences, and critical policy arenas, this volume offers both a sharp diagnosis of the present and a compelling vision for freer futures."Terrance Wooten, Associate Professor of Africana Studies, Davidson College"Black Feminist Sociology is a treasure trove of timely, relatable, and powerful essays. From the historical to the global, this book impressively builds on the critical foundation laid by Patricia Hill Collins over 30 years ago. As a professor, I consider this lovingly curated book a generous gift to any classroom."Marisela Martinez-Cola, Associate Professor of Sociology, Morehouse College "The book makes a valuable addition to the field, offering a comprehensive exploration of Black feminist sociology (BFS) that goes beyond the conventional boundaries of the discipline. The inclusion of writings by both established and emerging scholars adds a rich and diverse perspective to the subject. The critical, personal, and politically-oriented essays provide a fresh perspective that encourages students to engage deeply with BFS."Nicole Farris, Professor of Sociology, Texas A&M UniversityAdditional Praise for the First edition:"Intergenerational, interdisciplinary, and all around fierce! Black Feminist Sociology is a collection that is long-overdue but well worth the wait. Luna and Pirtle have given us a treasure of reflection, instruction, and future mandate. Their vision of a foundational Black feminist praxis will make all of our scholarship better and bolder. This text will be referenced for decades to come."Mary Pattillo, Harold Washington Professor of Sociology and Black Studies, Northwestern University"Luna and Pirtle have pulled together the definitive volume on Black Feminist sociology of our time. The pieces in this book root Black feminist sociology in its activist and intellectual origins, trace its development, help us to understand the contemporary period, and urge us to look forward. The thinkers and writers represented in this book range from retired founders of Black Feminist Thought and the most influential contemporary scholars in Black feminist sociology to the up and coming next generation of Black feminist intellectuals. This book is a masterpiece and a model for how to do a field-defining edited volume."Joyce Bell, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Chicago"Black women’s scholarship has always been theoretically, methodologically, and epistemologically foundational to the discipline of sociology. This collection of essays is a scholarly, communal Black feminist gathering that tends carefully and poignantly to the multiple legacies of Black feminist work in the field. Calling back to Black feminist sociological histories, naming our place and showing our work now, and anticipating Black feminist futures, it offers crucial insight into Black feminist sociological scholarship that is essential reading in the ever-persistent call for the U.S. to 'listen to Black women.'"Zandria Robinson, Associate Professor of Sociology, Georgetown University"While reading this book, I sensed the tectonic plates of sociological theorizing shift. The collected essays highlight exciting new directions for Black feminist sociological inquiry. Though grounded in sociology, the vision and relevance of this volume extend beyond those disciplinary borders. This spectacular collection is a must have for anyone teaching about Black feminisms." Michele Tracy Berger, Professor Emerita of Women's and Gender Studies, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill"Black Feminist Sociology: Perspectives and Praxis is a much-needed, field-defining intervention. This collection of critical thought clearly articulates Black feminism’s role in defining the discipline of sociology by carefully chronicling how Black feminism revolutionizes sociological methods and theory. Including the voices of a cadre of influential intellectuals, theorists and analysts, this book takes the reader on a journey through Black women’s experiences in the discipline and the innovative interventions Black feminist thought has brought and continues to bring to social inquiry. Black feminism is crucial to social science theory, methods, and research. Indisputably, this book is an indispensable guide to anyone wanting to engage Black feminism, social theory, social science, and sociology."Christen Smith, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Black Studies, Yale University, creator of #CiteBlackWomen