By placing Africana womanism within a literary context, this book expands the layered meanings of this family-centred, race-based theory and applies them to the works and ideas of renowned international literary figures such as Toni Morrison, Paul Marshall and Buchi Emecheta. Hudson-Weems also defines and explores two important characteristics of African womanism, positive black male-female relationships and genuine sisterhood, as factors that are not only crucial to the foundation of a strong Africana family but also to the success of its community.

A classic in African American Studies and Gender Studies. Sixth edition will feature a new chapter discussing Angie Thomas' The Hate You Give. Outlines a novel, non-western notion of 'womanism' rather than 'feminism'.

First published in 1993, this is a new edition of the classic text in which Clenora Hudson-Weems sets out a paradigm for women of African descent. Examining the status, struggles and experiences of the Africana woman forced into exile in Europe, Latin America, the United States or at Home in Africa, the theory outlines the experience of Africana women as unique and separate from that of some other women of color, and, of course, from white women. Differentiating itself from the problematic theories of Western feminisms, Africana Womanism allows an establishment of cultural identity and relationship directly to ancestry and land. This new edition includes five new chapters as well as an evolution of the classic Africana womanist paradigm, to that of Africana-Melanated Womanism. It shows how race, class and gender must be prioritized in the fight against every day racial dominance. Africana Womanism: Reclaiming Ourselves offers a new term and paradigm for women of African descent. A family-centered concept, prioritizing race, class and gender, it offers eighteen features of the Africana womanist (self-namer, self-definer, family-centered, genuine in sisterhood, strong, in concert with male in the liberation struggle, whole, authentic, flexible role player, respected, recognized, spiritual, male compatible, respectful of elders, adaptable, ambitious, mothering, nurturing), applying them to characters in novels by Hurston, Bâ, Marshall, Morrison and McMillan. It evolves from Africana Womanism to Africana-Melanated Womanism. This is an important work and essential reading for researchers and students in women and gender studies, Africana studies, African-American studies, literary studies and cultural studies, particularly with the emergence of family centrality (community and collective engagement), the very cornerstone of Africana Womanism since its inception.

AFRICANA WOMANISM: RECLAIMING OURSELVES poses new challenges for the feminist movement. In fact, in the words of Delores P. Aldridge it is "unquestionably a pioneering effort whose time has come. It provides an exciting & fresh approach to understanding the tensions existing among the mainstream feminist, the Black feminist, the African feminist & the Africana womanist." Hudson-Weems examines the perceptions women in the African diaspora have of their historical & contemporary roles. It is within this comparative framework that the work advances the state of knowledge on the lives of women in color. Since the initial appeal of feminism was & continues to be largely for educated, middle-class white women & not black working class women, the onus of responsibility for the destiny of the Africana woman rests on her. The growing need to be self-named & self-defined, the desire for reclamation of her historical past, the search for a stronger sense of belongingness & the greater call for cultural rootedness provide the rationale & justify the urgency for a new direction. AFRICANA WOMANISM is timely, theoretically fitting & intrinsically advantageous to the Africana woman. In the triple marginality of black women, race rises above class & gender. Distributors: Baker & Taylor; Midwest Library Service.

Comprehensive in its coverage, The Womanist Reader is the first volume to anthologize the major works of womanist scholarship. Charting the course of womanist theory from its genesis as Alice Walker’s African-American feminism, through Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi’s African womanism and Clenora Hudson-Weems’ Africana womanism, to its present-day expression as a global, anti-oppressionist perspective rooted in the praxis of everyday women of color, this interdisciplinary reader traces the rich and diverse history of a quarter century of womanist thought. Featuring selections from over a dozen disciplines by top womanist scholars from around the world, plus several critiques of womanism, an extensive bibliography of womanist sources, and the first ever systematic treatment of womanist thought on its own terms, Layli Phillips has assembled a unique and groundbreaking compilation.

Fifty-one essays by writers such as Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ralph Ellison, and Zora Neale Hurston, as well as critics and academics such as Henry Louis Gates, Jr. examine the central texts and arguments in African American literary theory from the 1920s through the present. Contributions are organized chronologically beginning with the rise of a black aesthetic criticism, through the Black Arts Movement, feminism, structuralism and poststructuralism, queer theory, and cultural studies. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

Within the Circle is the first anthology to present the entire spectrum of twentieth-century African American literary and cultural criticism. It begins with the Harlem Renaissance, continues through civil rights, the Black Arts Movement, and on into contemporary debates of poststructuralist and black feminist theory. Drawing on a quote from Frederick Douglass for the title of this book, Angelyn Mitchell explains in her introduction the importance for those "within the circle" of African American literature to examine their own works and to engage this critical canon. The essays in this collection--many of which are not widely available today--either initiated or gave critical definition to specific periods or movements of African American literature. They address issues such as integration, separatism, political action, black nationalism, Afrocentricity, black feminism, as well as the role of art, the artist, the critic, and the audience. With selections from Langston Hughes, Sterling Brown, W. E. B. DuBois, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Barbara Smith, Alice Walker, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and many others, this definitive collection provides a dynamic model of the cultural, ideological, historical, and aesthetic considerations in African American literature and literary criticism. A major contribution to the study of African American literature, this volume will serve as a foundation for future work by students and scholars. Its importance will be recognized by all those interested in modern literary theory as well as general readers concerned with the African American experience. Selections by (partial list): Houston A. Baker, Jr., James Baldwin, Sterling Brown, Barbara Christian, W. E. B. DuBois, Ralph Ellison, LeRoi Jones, Sarah Webster Fabio, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., W. Lawrence Hogue, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Alain Locke, Deborah E. McDowell, Toni Morrison, J. Saunders Redding, George Schuyler, Barbara Smith, Valerie Smith, Hortense J. Spillers, Robert B. Stepto, Alice Walker, Margaret Walker, Mary Helen Washington, Richard Wright