Black Feminist Anthropology

Black Feminist anthropology is a bit of a misnomer to most people though it is a significant tool that is just now really coming into its fullness. Though not totally understood or supported, it has come a long ways since Zora Neale Hurston first traversed the South using black folk and their daily realities to color her stories. Because media glorifies, yet in the same breath, tears down what is considered to be the unintelligent or ghetto part of black life, that which is considered to be academic is torn asunder because blacks aren’t suppose to be that way. They are meant to be cool, of a certain walk, or talk. Although it is disheartening it must be transgressed into power, which has been is already happening. Black feminist anthropology takes apart, investigates, reclaims, understands, and puts together a new retelling of lives, culture, and identities. These anthropologists are returning home, just as Zora returned to Eatonville, to do fieldwork and understand, really understand, where they have come from just as many black people today are doing genealogical research. This is a powerful thing; however, black feminist anthropology is not fully understood yet, not even by myself.
Johnetta B. Cole gives the forward for Black Feminist Anthropology. What is most interesting about this is that she has been a chief figure in the recent Anthropological readings that I have done thus far, which haven’t been of significant number. However, she mentioned that black female anthropologists are able to reach across into different fields of study and bring solidarity to both themselves and the public. These anthropologists are even starting at home as Cole says “the authors are engaged at intersections where the personal is political and professional”. (x) A need to go deeper and document their own stories has sprung from the lack of women in the field. For instance, “virtually all written accounts and verbal discussions of the Civil Rights Movement and any effort of for improved human rights sound as if only African American men were involved”. (xi) To an extent I have even fallen victim to this generalization that women have had a mediocre role in the changing and shaping of our societies. Because women have not written our own history or studied ourselves we had yet to see our significance in society and surely if we cannot see it then certainly we cannot expect others to.
One of the most intriguing things about these Black Feminist Anthropologists is that they have chosen to go back home to conduct research pertaining to not just their communities but also themselves. Upon writing I am beginning to understand the use of the word feminist between that of Black and Anthropologists. For me these words seemed to be meshed together just because they looked boring enough to fit. However, by looking at and understanding these words one by one, it makes complete sense. The use of the word feminist is very telling. Many of these women, growing up, according to the readings, questioned their place in society whether they were a middle class citizen, nerd, or one of mixed ancestry. Carolyn Martin Shaw speaks about how “not having the cultural competencies that could comfort me as a representative of black culture, I saw race primarily in terms of the black body and racism”. (103) Dr. Shaw began to understand and study why she felt estranged from her black community, though she lived and grew up in it. Therefore I call her a feminist because she understood that something was in opposition to who she was as a young female, and decided to address those problems while also dispelling myths and documenting her story.
Not only have I been reading about Dr. Coles’ studies, but an audience, with me included, heard her speak last night on issues concerning leadership of women, women’s institutions, and a list of ‘isms’. As I sat there, trying my best pose questions that would not formulate, I still could not understand why someone would call themselves a feminist or an anthropologist. Just as I was thinking this thought, which consisted of almost the whole lecture, the word audacity sprung from Dr. Coles’ lips. Then I knew that the work that was being done and had been done was an audacious move on these women anthropologists’ parts. It is a telling of their and our own stories. To simply know information is important on the part of the anthropologist, but to ‘tell’ and shout to the world that black feminist anthropology is alive and well is audacious.