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Drawing on both personal experience and critical theory, Carole Boyce Davies illuminates the dynamic complexity of Caribbean culture and traces its migratory patterns throughout the Americas. Both a memoir and a scholarly study, Caribbean Spaces: Escapes from Twilight Zones explores the multivalent meanings of Caribbean space and community in a cross-cultural and transdisciplinary perspective. From her childhood in Trinidad and Tobago to life and work in communities and universities in Nigeria, Brazil, England, and the United States, Carole Boyce Davies portrays a rich and fluid set of personal experiences. She reflects on these movements to understand the interrelated dynamics of race, gender, and sexuality embedded in Caribbean spaces, as well as many Caribbean people's traumatic and transformative stories of displacement, migration, exile, and sometimes return. Ultimately, Boyce Davies reestablishes the connections between theory and practice, intellectual work and activism, and personal and private space.

This book provides an explanatory model of adolescent development in a social context in order to explicate how meaningful psychosocial identities are constructed. The maturational trajectories of adolescents are fully explored within particular developmental domains. The functional constructs of resilience and risk are utilized to clarify the intersection of social context and emotional-behavioral responses in the lives of Black girls and their families. Based on research findings, the book has a particular ethnic focus; notwithstanding, it offers powerful insight into the developmental issues confronting all adolescents. The book brings together empirical data and case illustrations to theorize about social competence and social assets that promote healthy development. The book argues that developmentally self-relatedness or the lack thereof makes for adaptive or maladaptive social adjustment. Altogether, authoritative foundational knowledge in theology, philosophy and human development underscores theorizations about the complexities of concrete life-experiences. The girls' self-reports are told in their own words. Their visceral language communicates chutzpah, intelligence, courage, and hope. Of import to students of social work, counselling, and psychology will be the book's theoretical composition and the presentation of actual case material all of which provide a knowledge base for the development of critical thinking and intervention skills. Case illustrations feature study questions for reflection and class discussion. A Glossary is provided at the end of the book to capture the meaning of core concepts presented throughout the text.

Sexual Reckonings is the fascinating tale of adolescent girls coming of age in the South during the most explosive decades for the region. Focusing on the period from 1920 to 1960, Susan Cahn reveals how both the life of the South and the meaning of adolescence underwent enormous political, economic, and social shifts.

Badass Supermama is a playful, but questioning personal exploration of race, gender, sexuality, and adolescent notions of beauty and representation. These multi-layered, inter-connected issues are intimately examined through 1970ís \"blaxploitation\" movie goddess Pam Grier and her characters, particularly Foxy Brown. The videomaker tries on the powerful, badass supermama role of Foxy Brown, while exploring the space between body and image. This lyrical video is gently critical, playing with the idea of masquerade, as well as childhood and adolescent fantasies of black womanhood.

2010 Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award from the American Sociological Association; Race, Gender, and Class Section 2008 Finalist, The Society for the Study of Social Problems C. Wright Mills Award Much has been written about the challenges that face urban African American young men, but less is said about the harsh realities for African American young women in disadvantaged communities. Sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and even gang rape are not uncommon experiences. In Getting Played, sociologist Jody Miller presents a compelling picture of this dire social problem and explores how inextricably, and tragically, linked violence is to their daily lives in poor urban neighborhoods. Drawing from richly textured interviews with adolescent girls and boys, Miller brings a keen eye to the troubling realities of a world infused with danger and gender-based violence. These girls are isolated, ignored, and often victimized by those considered family and friends. Community institutions such as the police and schools that are meant to protect them often turn a blind eye, leaving girls to fend for themselves. Miller draws a vivid picture of the race and gender inequalities that harm these communities-and how these result in deeply and dangerously engrained beliefs about gender that teach youths to see such violence-rather than the result of broader social inequalities-as deserved due to individual girls' flawed characters, i.e., she deserved it. Through Miller's careful analysis of these engaging, often unsettling stories, Getting Played shows us not only how these young women are victimized, but how, despite vastly inadequate social support and opportunities, they struggle to navigate this dangerous terrain.

An engaging examination of Black Girl Magic and its significance in American literature In Light and Legacies , author Janaka Bowman Lewis examines Black girlhood in American literature from the mid-twentieth century to the present. The representation of Black girlhood in contemporary literature has long remained underexplored. Through this literary history of \"Black Girl Magic,\" Lewis offers one of the first studies in this rapidly growing field of study. Light and Legacies poignantly showcases the activist dimensions of creative literature through work by women writers such as Toni Morrison and Toni Cade. As vectors of protest, these stories reflect historical events while also creating an enduring space of liberation and expression. The book provides didactic and reflective portrayals of the Black experience-an experience that has long been misunderstood. In a work both enlightening and personal, Lewis brilliantly weaves accounts of her own journey together with the liberating stories that shaped her and so many others.

What was it like to grow up black and female in the segregated South?To answer this question, LaKisha Simmons blends social history and cultural studies, recreating children's streets and neighborhoods within Jim Crow New Orleans and offering a rare look into black girls' personal lives.

Based on interviews with many successful young black women and their families, Overcoming the Odds provides a wealth of information about how and why they have succeeded--what motivates them, how their backgrounds and family relationships have shaped them, even how it feels to be a high academic achiever. They also discuss the challenges of moving into African American womanhood, from maintaining self-esteem to making the right choices about their professional and personal lives. Most important, the book offers specific and inspiring examples of the practices, attitudes, and parenting strategies that have enabled these women to persevere and triumph.