Black Feminisms
Appels à contributions
News
Black feminist theories and activist perspectives, that were drawn from political struggles, date back to the existence of early feminist movements in general. Although activists, such as Cécile Fatiman, Sojourner Truth, Yaa Asantewaa, Ida B. Wells, Claudia Jones, did not call themselves ‘feminists’, they immensely contributed to the abolition and overcoming of enslavement and colonialism, struggled against racism and capitalism, as well as for gender equality and international solidarity. In light of these contributions, African and Afro-diasporic activists, of various backgrounds and knowledges, analysed and criticised the entanglements of societal oppression, exploitation and power structures. Even within the context of US American feminist movements since the 1970’s, it was Black feminists*, such as the Combahee River Collective and Patricia Hill Collins, who demanded that the structural interlocking and interconnectedness of various structures of oppression and domination should be addressed.
Black feminists* and women* of colour all over the globe have confronted and struggled against colonisation, neocolonial aspirations, militarisation and extractivism. They have furthermore been prominent representatives of post- and decolonial transnational-feminist discourses that analyse and critique exploitative structures of global ecological, economical, racialised and gendered inequalities. Black feminists in German-speaking countries have also raised awareness about the interconnectedness of the various dimensions of oppressive power structures. Their research has proven that the aftermath of colonialism and racism have had long lasting and strong effects on contemporary social structures and institutions (esp. in the labour market, the legal sector, academic research and education, as well as in health, economic and social politics) and has shaped the nexus of desire, gender and sexuality - hence the experiences of black women*. Moreover, their research has uncovered the underlying racism that exists within women’s movements in Germany, the U.S. and many other countries. They challenged these feminist narrow approaches (i.e. reproductive labour, self-determination and anti-violence work) and their complicities in the reproduction of systems of oppression. Black feminist theories and activism, however, are not limited to certain regions or places, but rather a result of transnational movements, shared struggles, imaginations and visions beyond ‘the West’. Moreover, the relationship between theory and political practice within Black feminism should be considered relational and intertwined: Knowledge and insights that result from political movements and activism undoubtedly influence, challenge and expand the production of theories in the field. Similarly, established theories complement the analyses of day-to-day political conflicts and struggles. Black feminist theories therefore bear immense potential for practical emancipatory transformations of society.
Despite these invaluable insights and contributions, Black feminist archives, theories, reflections and analyses are still marginalised and hardly acknowledged within the academic landscapes of German-speaking countries. Only recently and very slowly have terms and paradigms of intersectionality, ‘triple oppression’, post- and decolonial feminist perspectives permeated feminist theories and discourses in German-speaking countries, albeit oftentimes in fragmented, incomplete or depoliticised ways. Abolitionist perspectives and critiques of racialised gendered capitalism, afro-pessimist theories, womanism, Black queer theories, Black feminist geographies, transformative and reproductive justice, and theories of fugitivity and creolisisation are hardly ever acknowledged in this academic sphere. This special issue aims to intervene into and substitute these gaps of knowledge, by presenting and accrediting the themes, debates, positions, interventions, struggles and movements across the broad spectrum of Black feminist theories of the global African diaspora (i.e. African Feminism, Womanisms, Afro-Brazilian theories and activism, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Turkish feminist theories), in order to discuss these topics in the context of transnational dimensions of Black feminist theories. It also aims to highlight the different approaches, epistemological frameworks and political interventions that are developed as analyses, research and critiques of intersectional relations of oppression. Against this backdrop, we would like to provide a fertile ground for future discourses of Black feminist theories - which are and have always been essential for critical theory - within German-speaking contexts, while accentuating their broad range, depth and diverse intellectual contributions. We look forward to articles, with a theoretical, empirical or methodological focus and/or contributions combining these aspects. We also welcome contributions which investigate and highlight the political and social significance of art and the production of cultural, as well as aesthetic contributions from Black feminist theories.
Potential approaches and topics could include:
Black feminist epistemology, Black feminist critiques of science and theories of solidarity
Black/African queer studies Afrofuturism and futuristic imaginations Afropessimism: Theories and approaches Radical Black critique of humanism as a critique of science Afro-diasporic perspectives on transnational feminist solidarity (i.e. between ‘West-ern’ and African, Caribbean, South American perspectives).
Reproduction, health and affects
Black feminist perspectives on care-/health-/emotional labour (black bodies as ‘un-grievable bodies’) Social reproduction and reproductive justice Affect theory approaches and perspectives Black disability studies Medical racism, struggle for global health justice (i.e. with regard to the Covid 19-pandemic).
The State, economy and public security
Black feminist perspectives and struggles concerning police, prisons, border- and deportation laws, bio- and necropolitics Black feminist theories on racial capitalism and international post-colonial political economy Critiques of militarisation, securitisation and geo-political conjunctures Black feminist analysis of democracy and post-colonial statehood Feminist theories on the Black Mediterranean, fugitivity and migration, Black feminist geographies.
Politics of remembrance, education and world-citizenship
Genocide, (post-) conflict situations, peace, transnational justice models Politics of remembrance, collective memory and storytelling Philosophy and theory of education, theory and critique of subjectivity Post- and decolonial perspectives on education, world-citizenship and global positionality, and global justice.
Ecology, (new) technologies and digitalisation
Intersectional injustices within big data, computerisation and digitalisation Black digital and cyber feminism Climate and environmental justice, fights against intersectional environmental racism Capitalocene and Black feminist critiques of anthropocentrism and the Anthropocene.
Abstracts and Contact
Denise Bergold-Caldwell, Christine Loew and Vanessa E. Thompson are the supporting editors of this issue. Abstracts of one or two pages should be sent to bergoldc@staff.uni-marburg.de, loew@em.uni-frankfurt.de and thompson@europa-uni.de or to redaktion@femina-politica.de by November 30th, 2020. Please send the abstracts in pdf or docx. Femina Politica is a feminist journal which supports scientific work of women* within and outside of academia. Qualified abstracts by women* and non-binary people with multiple marginalised identities will be given priority in this issue.
Submission Deadline for Contributions
The editors will select contributions from the abstracts and invite authors to submit full papers until December 15th, 2020. The deadline for manuscripts between 35,000 and 40,000 characters (including spaces, notes, and bibliography), prepared for anonymous double-blind review, is March 15th, 2021. Information concerning the author should only be given on the title page. All manuscripts are reviewed by external reviewers (double blind) and editors. The reviews will be returned by May 15th, 2021. The final selection will be based on the full-length paper. The deadline for the final version of the paper is July 15th, 2021.
Open Section Forum
In addition to the topic of “Black Feminisms”, this issue of Femina Politica provides the opportunity to publish original manuscripts from the field of gender-sensitive political science in the journal’s section Forum. Articles should be between 20,000 and 25,000 characters (including spaces, notes, and biography) and should either provide access to important research findings or be involved around contemporary debates in feminist research. Abstracts of one or two pages should be sent to redaktion@femina-politica.de. The final selection will be based on the full-length paper.
Genre,
Race,
Intersectionnalité
Recherche
