Body Language: Sisters in Shape, Black Women's Fitness, and Feminist Identity Politics

In her evocative ethnographic study, Body Language, Kimberly Lau traces the multiple ways in which the success of an innovative fitness program illuminates what identity means to its Black female clientele and how their group interaction provides a new perspective on feminist theories of identity politics—especially regarding the significance of identity to political activism and social change.

Sisters in Shape, Inc., Fitness Consultants (SIS), a Philadelphia company, promotes balance in physical, mental, and spiritual health. Its program goes beyond workouts, as it educates and motivates women to make health and fitness a priority. Discussing the obstacles at home and the importance of the group's solidarity to their ability to stay focused on their goals, the women speak to the ways in which their commitment to reshaping their bodies is a commitment to an alternative future.

Body Language shows how the group's explorations of black women's identity open new possibilities for identity-based claims to recognition, justice, and social change.

1101167172
Body Language: Sisters in Shape, Black Women's Fitness, and Feminist Identity Politics

In her evocative ethnographic study, Body Language, Kimberly Lau traces the multiple ways in which the success of an innovative fitness program illuminates what identity means to its Black female clientele and how their group interaction provides a new perspective on feminist theories of identity politics—especially regarding the significance of identity to political activism and social change.

Sisters in Shape, Inc., Fitness Consultants (SIS), a Philadelphia company, promotes balance in physical, mental, and spiritual health. Its program goes beyond workouts, as it educates and motivates women to make health and fitness a priority. Discussing the obstacles at home and the importance of the group's solidarity to their ability to stay focused on their goals, the women speak to the ways in which their commitment to reshaping their bodies is a commitment to an alternative future.

Body Language shows how the group's explorations of black women's identity open new possibilities for identity-based claims to recognition, justice, and social change.

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Body Language: Sisters in Shape, Black Women's Fitness, and Feminist Identity Politics

Body Language: Sisters in Shape, Black Women's Fitness, and Feminist Identity Politics

by Kimberly J. Lau
Body Language: Sisters in Shape, Black Women's Fitness, and Feminist Identity Politics

Body Language: Sisters in Shape, Black Women's Fitness, and Feminist Identity Politics

by Kimberly J. Lau

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Overview

In her evocative ethnographic study, Body Language, Kimberly Lau traces the multiple ways in which the success of an innovative fitness program illuminates what identity means to its Black female clientele and how their group interaction provides a new perspective on feminist theories of identity politics—especially regarding the significance of identity to political activism and social change.

Sisters in Shape, Inc., Fitness Consultants (SIS), a Philadelphia company, promotes balance in physical, mental, and spiritual health. Its program goes beyond workouts, as it educates and motivates women to make health and fitness a priority. Discussing the obstacles at home and the importance of the group's solidarity to their ability to stay focused on their goals, the women speak to the ways in which their commitment to reshaping their bodies is a commitment to an alternative future.

Body Language shows how the group's explorations of black women's identity open new possibilities for identity-based claims to recognition, justice, and social change.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781439903100
Publisher: Temple University Press
Publication date: 08/05/2011
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 208
File size: 288 KB

About the Author

Kimberly J. Lau is Professor of Literature and American Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is the author of New Age Capitalism: Making Money East of Eden.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 
1. The Anatomy of a Movement 
2. Experience: Spirituality, Sisterhood, and the Unspeakable 
3. Performance: Negotiating Multiple Black Womanhoods 
4. New Bodies of Knowledge 
5. Rearticulating Feminist Identity Politics 
Notes 
References 
Index

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