READINGS

"As they said (Black!)

I stepped back (Black!)

Just as they wanted (Black!)

And I hated my hair and my fleshy lips.

And I saw with sadness my brunette skin

I stepped back (Black!)

I stepped back…

Black! Black! Black! Black!"

-Victoria Santa Cruz

"What do we do with the narratives, the authors, the spectacular figures that resist facile categorization in nineteenth century studies? From the racially unmarked tales produced by Black women activists to the political outsider memoir of a traveling hairstylist..." 

-Dr. Daphne Brooks

"Black women have long served as storytellers, knowledge producers, and custodians of collective memory across Africa and its diaspora. Through oral traditions, literature, and film, they have created networks for the circulation of knowledge while fostering Pan-African consciousness..." 

- Dr. Korka Sall

"This article examines in hermeneutic fashion the philosophy of Michel Foucault and isolates an identity matrix that can assist humans in navigating the often numerous and conflicting narratives facing us in the 21st century...."

Examines how  minorities have similarly suffered heteronormative impositions to gain American citizenship (Gopinath, 2005)... Interesting discussion of non-normativity in terms of gender, race and class. 

"As an attorney, Derrick Bell worked on many civil-rights cases, but his doubts about their impact launched a groundbreaking school of thought." Bell defined "critical race theory" as the act of  "telling the truth, even in the face of criticism...” 

“As a Black woman, we just have to be greater,” Biles says simply, echoing what many a Black female great has said before her. “Because even when we break records and stuff, they almost dim it down, as if it’s just normal."

"....And so Simone Biles gets to decide what it means to be Simone Biles now."

"... 'I have always been told and taught that straight hair is 'more professional' or 'more acceptable.' So when I started my professional career and I saw practically none of the Black women I worked with wearing any natural hairstyles, I assumed all the things I had been told were right.'"

Judith Butler’s radical contribution to queer theory rewrites the gender identity that impacts women-identifying peeople in American mainstream culture. In 1990, Butler described gender as an improvised performance. 

Uses critical race theory and gender studies to examine expressions of “femininity,” specifically in modern Rap Music Videos. The way femininity is typically characterized in traditional rap music perpetuates the misogynistic landscape and also stereotypes of Black sexualiy that exists in American mainstream culture.

 The critical intervention that West and Zimmerman made in gender studies is the analysis of an accountability structure– a system of assessing an individual's ability to “successfully” (or unsuccessfully) meet gendered societal expectations.

The relationship between gender, race and one’s perception of femininity has resulted in a dichotomy of expression for Black and white women. In sum, Black women in this study seem to value androgynous gender-role attitudes while perpetuating the Western beauty standard that is rooted in the white hegemony.

"The Black barbershop is not quite [a safe space] for gay Black men or women, as it is hyper-masculine and heteronormative and at times homophobic."  It is important to note that there appears to be a gap in the literature around the intersection of sexuality politics, race theory and Black hair. 

"No one’s story is exactly the same. But every Black girl, at some point in her life, has her own version of The Birthday Party. That’s why I’m writing this to you. I know what it’s like to feel like you’ve been swept under the rug. I know what it feels like to not be heard, not be seen, not be taken seriously."