Harris-Perry (Barbershops, Bibles, and BET), columnist for the Nation, draws on literature, biography, social science, anecdote, and focus group statistics to explore the three most pervasive (and pernicious) stereotypes of black women—Jezebel (who signifies sexual promiscuity), Sapphire (emasculating brashness), and Mammy (a devotion to “white domestic concerns”). She assays the political implications and consequences of these archetypes in the lives of contemporary black women—and for how they influences black women’s participation in American public life, finding that they enjoy a less than complete citizenship: “these misrecognitions contribute to pervasive experiences of shame for black women limit the opportunities for African American women as political and thought leaders.” Harris-Perry’s methodological style leaves a lot of room for academic debate, but her easy straddling of women’s and African-American studies and current hot-button issues (everything from Hurricane Katrina to the Duke lacrosse case) and her style could fit as easily into the classroom as a reading group. (Oct.)
Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America
Narrated by Lisa Reneé Pitts
Melissa V. Harris-PerryUnabridged — 11 hours, 15 minutes
Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America
Narrated by Lisa Reneé Pitts
Melissa V. Harris-PerryUnabridged — 11 hours, 15 minutes
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Overview
In this groundbreaking book, Melissa V. Harris-Perry uses multiple methods of inquiry, including literary analysis, political theory, focus groups, surveys, and experimental research, to understand more deeply black women's political and emotional responses to pervasive negative race and gender images. Not a traditional political science work concerned with office-seeking, voting, or ideology, Sister Citizen is an examination of how African American women understand themselves as citizens and what they expect from political organizing. Harris-Perry shows that the shared struggle to preserve an authentic self and secure recognition as citizens links together black women in America, from the anonymous survivors of Hurricane Katrina to the current First Lady of the United States.
Editorial Reviews
Astonishing. . . . Sister Citizen is written for the benefit of all Americans—sister citizens, brother citizens, and anyone else who cares about the way this country works.”—Tayari Jones, San Francisco Chronicle“This is the beauty of the book. . . . The insight and grace with which Harris-Perry tackles the thorny issue of African American women’s identity politics makes it a must-read.”—Jordan Kisner, Slate"Astonishing. . . . Sister Citizen is written for the benefit of all Americans - sister citizens, brother citizens and anyone else who cares about the way this country works."—Tayari Jones, San Francisco Chronicle“Harris-Perry offers fascinating observations of how black women are, at times, constricted by their mythology and asserts that their ‘experiences act as a democratic litmus test for the nation.’”—Vanessa Bush, Booklist“[Melissa Harris-Perry’s] academic research is inspired by a desire to investigate the challenges facing contemporary black Americans and the creative ways that African Americans respond to these challenges.”—Great Neck Record “After I read Sister Citizen, two words sprang to my mind: Thank you.”—Patrik Henry Bass, Essence“In Sister Citizen, Harris-Perry combines her skills as a social scientist, political observer, writer and griot to deftly illustrate how the social, economic, and political conditions of black women, particularly those on the margins, are the index for America at large.”—Byron Williams, Oakland Tribune“A feminist manifesto endeavoring to free sisters forever from the cruel and very limiting ways in which they continue to be pigeonholed.”—Kam Williams, InsightFinalist for the 43rd NAACP Image Awards in the Nonfiction Literature Category“Sister Citizen carefully documents the complex challenges and hurdles Black women face in the 21st century. Harris-Perry’s book is both insightful and provocative. A must read for those interested in learning more about American politics.”—Donna Brazile, political commentator for CNN and ABC News and former interim chair of the Democratic National Committee“Melissa Harris-Perry is one of our most trenchant readers of modern black life. In Sister Citizen, she gives new life to the idea that ‘the personal is political.’ This book will change the conversation about the rights, responsibilities, and burdens of citizenship.”—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University"Sister Citizen lends empirical heft to the adage the 'personal is political.' Melissa Harris-Perry does an excellent job of weaving literature, social science, and personal accounts to produce a powerful work on black women's politics. Brilliant."—Lester K. Spence, author of Stare in the Darkness: The Limits of Hip-hop and Black Politics“This is a broad, ambitious and important book that centers black women at the heart of American politics. Harris-Perry broadens our ideas of what counts as political, disrupts our ideas about what the study of American politics should look like, and restores our belief that resistance and struggle can change lives, communities and nations.”—Cathy J. Cohen, author of Boundaries of Blackness and Democracy Remixed“In this compelling book, dazzling in its breadth and depth, Melissa Harris-Perry deploys the quantitative tools of the political scientist as expertly as she displays the qualitative methods of the literary and cultural critic. Sister Citizen challenges readers to rethink the meaning of politics when it comes to the complex lives of African American women.”—Beverly Guy-Sheftall, founding director, Spelman College Women’s Research and Resource Center
Read an interview with Melissa Harris-Perry on the Yale Press Log
Sister Citizen is on Facebook.
Read an interview with Melissa Harris-Perry on the Yale Press Log
Read an interview with Melissa Harris-Perry on the Yale Press Log
Finalist for the 43rd NAACP Image Awards in the Non-Fiction Literature Category
"A feminist manifesto endeavoring to free sisters forever from the cruel and very limiting ways in which they continue to be pigeonholed."—Kam Williams, Insight
"With clarity and passion, Harris-Perry reveals the ways . . . myths rob Black women of political power."—Bobbi Booker, Sunday Tribune
"In Sister Citizen, Harris-Perry combines her skills as a social scientist, political observer, writer and griot to deftly illustrate how the social, economic, and political conditions of black women, particularly those on the margins, are the index for America at large."—Byron Williams, Oakland Tribune
"After I read Sister Citizen, two words sprang to my mind: Thank you."—Patrik Henry Bass, Essence
"[Melissa Harris-Perry's] academic research is inspired by a desire to investigate the challenges facing contemporary black Americans and the creative ways that African Americans respond to these challenges."—Great Neck Record
"Sister Citizen lends empirical heft to the adage the 'personal is political.' Melissa Harris-Perry does an excellent job of weaving literature, social science, and personal accounts to produce a powerful work on black women's politics. Brilliant."—Lester K. Spence, author of Stare in the Darkness: The Limits of Hip-hop and Black Politics
"In this compelling book, dazzling in its breadth and depth, Melissa Harris-Perry deploys the quantitative tools of the political scientist as expertly as she displays the qualitative methods of the literary and cultural critic. Sister Citizen challenges readers to rethink the meaning of politics when it comes to the complex lives of African American women."—Beverly Guy-Sheftall, founding director, Spelman College Women's Research and Resource Center
“This is a broad, ambitious and important book that centers black women at the heart of American politics. Harris-Perry commands multiple methods, sources, and theories to provide a nuanced, caring, and provocative reading of black women as archetypal citizens, barometers of the health of our democracy. Supporting her arguments throughout the book are the words, ideas and actions of black women. From her opening discussion of Their Eyes Were Watching God and Hurricane Katrina to her final chapter on Michelle Obama, Harris-Perry offers a new reading of black women’s emotional and psychological lives as inherently political, reflecting the work of marginal communities to gain political recognition. In this work, Harris-Perry broadens our ideas of what counts as political, disrupts our ideas about what the study of American politics should look like, and restores our belief that resistance and struggle can change lives, communities and nations.”—Cathy J. Cohen, University of Chicago
"Melissa Harris-Perry is one of our most trenchant readers of modern black life. In Sister Citizen, she gives new life to the idea that 'the personal is political.' She never traffics in easy generalizations or fuzzy thinking. The argument she puts forward—that the lives of black women in the U.S. are inherently political, that their daily experiences consist of the hard political work of self-definition and social navigation to a degree unique among Americans—is grounded in incisive critical analysis and surefooted social scientific methodology. This book will change the conversation about the rights, responsibilities, and burdens of citizenship."—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University
"Sister Citizen carefully documents the complex challenges and hurdles Black women face in the 21st century. Harris-Perry's book is both insightful and provocative. A must read for those interested in learning more about American politics."—Donna Brazile, Political Commentator for CNN and ABC News and former Interim Chair of the Democratic National Committee
"Harris-Perry offers fascinating observations of how black women are, at times, constricted by their mythology and asserts that their 'experiences act as a democratic litmus test for the nation.'"—Vanessa Bush, Booklist
"This is the beauty of the book....The insight and grace with which Harris-Perry tackles the thorny issue of African American women’s identity politics makes it a must-read."— Jordan Kisner, Slate
"Astonishing. . . . Sister Citizen is written for the benefit of all Americans - sister citizens, brother citizens and anyone else who cares about the way this country works."—Tayari Jones, San Francisco Chronicle
A feminist manifesto endeavoring to free sisters forever from the cruel and very limiting ways in which they continue to be pigeonholed.—Kam Williams, Insight
— Kam Williams
With clarity and passion, Harris-Perry reveals the ways . . . myths rob Black women of political power.—Bobbi Booker, Sunday Tribune
— Bobbi Booker
In Sister Citizen, Harris-Perry combines her skills as a social scientist, political observer, writer and griot to deftly illustrate how the social, economic, and political conditions of black women, particularly those on the margins, are the index for America at large.—Byron Williams, Oakland Tribune
— Byron Williams
Harris-Perry offers fascinating observations of how black women are, at times, constricted by their mythology and asserts that their 'experiences act as a democratic litmus test for the nation.—Vanessa Bush, Booklist
— Vanessa Bush
This is the beauty of the book....The insight and grace with which Harris-Perry tackles the thorny issue of African American women’s identity politics makes it a must-read.— Jordan Kisner, Slate
— Jordan Kisner
After I read Sister Citizen, two words sprang to my mind: Thank you.—Patrik Henry Bass, Essence
— Patrik Henry Bass
Astonishing. . . . Sister Citizen is written for the benefit of all Americans - sister citizens, brother citizens and anyone else who cares about the way this country works.—Tayari Jones, San Francisco Chronicle
— Tayari Jones
Finalist for the 43rd NAACP Image Awards in the Non-Fiction Literature Category
— NAACP Image Awards Finalist
Harris-Perry (political science, Tulane Univ.; Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought) offers a fascinating academic discussion of barriers to African American women's presence in American political culture. Central to her thesis is the democratic idea that an individual's personal and national identity must be accurately recognized and named to permit full citizenship and pursuant political participation. She goes on to identify and analyze society's rampant misrecognition of African American women and its insistence on viewing them within the narrow confines of stereotypes. The text includes examples of negative portrayals of African American women and Harris-Perry's research on reportage on the impact of these portrayals. VERDICT This honest and unflinching display of the challenges to political participation in America offers readers little regarding strategies toward either overcoming or rectifying this situation. Further, when Harris-Perry draws the reader toward fictive parallels in which novelized African American women characters exhibit resilience while becoming the politicized embodiments of named stereotypes, the central issue becomes muddled. Recommended, nonetheless, for scholars and students of African American studies, feminism, political science, and American culture.—Jewell Anderson, Armstrong Atlantic State Univ. Lib., Savannah, GA
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940170774425 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Tantor Audio |
| Publication date: | 03/19/2012 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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