Pregnancy and Prematurity in the Afterlife of Slavery

2019 ◽  
pp. 89-114
Author(s):  
Dána-Ain Davis
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
The Past ◽  
Birth Story ◽  
Afterlife Of Slavery

This chapter illustrates the connection between racialist thinking of the past and Black women’s contemporary medical encounters. It addresses the various ways in which medical racism is asserted when the care of Black women and their children is compromised due to racist concepts such as obstetric hardiness, hardy babies, and mothers’ being viewed as menacing or potential threats. While other stories are included, Yvette Santana’s birth story is the touchstone for exploring several ways that medical racism is experienced; her account is framed around histories and ideas about Black women, their bodies, and reproduction. The organizing concept of this chapter is diagnostic lapse. A diagnostic lapse is the consequence of racialist thinking and results in a misdiagnosis.

scholarly journals Using Simulation Modeling to Inform Strategies to Reduce Breast Cancer Mortality in Black Women in the District of Columbia

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aimee M. Near ◽  
Jeanne S. Mandelblatt ◽  
Clyde B. Schechter ◽  
Michael A. Stoto
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Adjuvant Treatment ◽  
Cancer Mortality ◽  
Simulation Modeling ◽  
Breast Cancer Mortality ◽  
District Of Columbia ◽  
Cancer Control ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Us

Background. Black women in the District of Columbia (DC) have the highest breast cancer mortality in the US. Local cancer control planners are interested in how to most efficiently reduce this mortality. Methods. An established simulation model was adapted to reflect the experiences of Black women in DC and estimate the past and future impact of changes in use of screening and adjuvant treatment. Results. The model estimates that the observed reduction in mortality that occurred from 1975 to 2007 attributable to screening, treatment, and both was 20.2%, 25.7%, and 41.0% respectively. The results suggest that, by 2020, breast cancer mortality among Black women in DC could be reduced by 6% more by initiating screening at age 40 versus age 50. Screening annually may also reduce mortality to a greater extent than biennially, albeit with a marked increase in false positive screening rates. Conclusion. This study demonstrates how modeling can provide data to assist local planners as they consider different cancer control policies based on their individual populations.

scholarly journals Sexually transmissible infection testing among pregnant women in the US, 2011–15

Sexual Health ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Jami S. Leichliter ◽  
Laura T. Haderxhanaj ◽  
Thomas L. Gift ◽  
Patricia J. Dittus
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Health Care Access ◽  
White Women ◽  
Screening Methods ◽  
Metropolitan Statistical Area ◽  
The Past ◽  
Sexually Transmissible Infections ◽  
The Us ◽  
To Receive

Introduction Sexually transmissible infections (STIs) are increasing in the US. Pregnant women and infants are susceptible to serious STI-related sequelae; however, some STIs can be cured during pregnancy with appropriate, timely screening. Methods: We used data from the 2011–15 National Survey of Family Growth to examine STI testing (in the past 12 months) among women who were pregnant in the past 12 months (n = 1155). In bivariate and multivariable analyses, we examined associations between demographics, health care access and two outcome variables, namely receipt of a chlamydia test and receipt of other STI tests. Results: Among women who were pregnant in the past 12 months, 48% reported receiving a chlamydia test and 54% reported that they received an STI test other than chlamydia in the past 12 months. In adjusted analyses, non-Hispanic Black women were more likely to receive a chlamydia test (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 2.82; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.86–4.26) and other STI tests (aOR 2.43; 95% CI 1.58–3.74) than non-Hispanic White women. Women living in a metropolitan statistical area but not the principal city were less likely to report chlamydia (aOR 0.62; 95% CI 0.44–0.86) and other STI (aOR 0.57; 95% CI 0.40–0.81) testing than women living in a principal city. Women born outside the US were significantly less likely to have received a chlamydia test (aOR 0.35; 95% CI 0.19–0.64) or other STI test (aOR 0.34; 95% CI 0.20–0.58), whereas those who had received prenatal care were more likely to receive a chlamydia test (aOR 2.10; 95% CI 1.35–3.28) or another STI test (aOR 2.32; 95% CI 1.54–3.49). Conclusions: The findings suggest that interventions are needed to increase adherence to recommended STI screenings during pregnancy.

Intersections in Subaltern Urbanism: The narratives of women in urban occupations in Brazil

2019 ◽  
pp. 239965441988796
Author(s):  
Mariana de Moura Cruz ◽  
Natália Alves da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Resistance Strategies ◽  
The Past ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
Belo Horizonte ◽  
Construction Knowledge ◽  
Theoretical Category ◽  
And Gender

In the past decade in Brazil, we have witnessed the rise of a new subaltern space, which has prompted a new theoretical category, incorporated in the contemporary epistemologies of Subaltern Urbanism: Urban Occupations. These new terrains of livelihood and self-organization have prompted a series of new resistance strategies, everyday practices and narratives that must be understood and decodified. The Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte—third largest in the country—accounts for over 25 housing occupations in its territory, more than half of which settled in the last five years. Occupation Rosa Leão, established in 2013, is one of them. As it happens in many other occupations, most of its dwellers are black women. They constitute majority in the coordination groups and are often more closely involved in the collective necessities of the community. The present article draws upon the experiences of these women as subjects of their own history to showcase urban occupation as a powerful place for understanding and dismantling the always existing but often overlooked intersection between coloniality and gender. It relies on the activist and academic engagement of both authors in these territories, and specifically in the experience with a women-only self-construction workshop organized in October 2017. Through this workshop, we sought to understand how “usually male” construction knowledge was employed (or not) by women, how it could be used as a tool for domination/emancipation and how gender relations intertwined with such issues in the process.

“Even The Black Women Wear Strands of Pearls”

2018 ◽  
pp. 78-127
Author(s):  
Molly A. Warsh
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Early History ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Union ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Pearl Fishing ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Black Pearl

This chapter considers the enduring significance of the Caribbean pearl-fishing settlements in the second half of the sixteenth century. In the wake of a devastating tsunami in 1541, the Pearl Coast never again reached the pearl-producing heights of the 1520s and 1530s, yet its complex political economy demanded constant crown attention and recognition of the centrality of black pearl divers to the region’s identity, as evidenced by the royal coat of arms granted to Margarita Island in 1600. This era coincided with the political merger of Portugal and Spain, a contentious political union with profound repercussions for the rules governing the movement of people and products within and beyond Iberian realms. Pearls and pearl fishing, meanwhile, continued to evoke maritime wealth and power beyond Spain, explored in art by painters charged with conveying the wonders of a world in transformation. As royal chroniclers reflected on the early history of the American pearl fisheries with an eye to assessing the errors and accomplishments of the past, crown officials sought to improve their management of these unruly settlements. Meanwhile, enslaved laborers in Venezuela and diplomats in England and Italy continued to use pearls to navigate the changing parameters of their lives.

Black cultural studies is intersectionality

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 833-839
Author(s):  
Marcus Johnson ◽  
Ralina L Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Black Feminist Theory ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future

This article argues that Black cultural studies must be understood as an intersectional intervention of praxis. Grounding our field in the past, speaking from the present, and projecting to the future, we examine the transformational influence that Black feminist theory has had on cultural studies, from Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw’s defense of 2 Live Crew, to the #SayHerName and Protect Black Women rally and marches.

scholarly journals WOMB CONTROL IN TONI MORRISON’S BELOVED

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 22
Author(s):  
Yuniar Fatmasari
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
The Body ◽  
Personal Life ◽  
Young Generation ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Past ◽  
Enslaved Women ◽  
Negative Images ◽  
The Mind

This study reveals the ideological strategies the dominant takes to exploit Black enslaved women’s womb experienced by the characters in Toni Morrison’s Beloved as well as their resistance. Written in 1987, the novel is set eight years after the end of the Civil War in time painful experiences during slavery era are still there in the mind of ex-enslaved Black women and men. The novel narrates the past through personal life experiences presented by Sethe and Baby Suggs. During slavery era, their bodies are not merely used to work in the plantation area but since they are women, their wombs are valuable commodity providing advantages and profit to the masters. To make it possible, the dominant function ideological strategies to control the Black enslaved women’s wombs. Therefore, this study tries to explore how the ideological strategies are practiced in the novel. According to Collins, creating negative images such as mammy, breeder woman, and jezebel addresses to the bodies of Black enslaved women belongs to ideological strategy which is more powerful compared to theeconomic and politic strategy. Each image covers dominant interest to control Black women’s womb under new-progressive capitalism in United States. The result of the study shows that those three images works effectively to control the Black enslaved women, even nowadays, those images are still there in the body of young generation of Black women and provide another form of womb’scontrol. However, the study as well finds out that the resistance toward the oppression is also varied. Self-definition is presumed to be a fundamental element to the journey of internalized oppression to the ‘free mind’ which eventually leads to the action of resistance. With this self-definition, Blackwomen begin to deny the existed negative images controlling their wombs.

scholarly journals WOMB CONTROL IN TONI MORRISON’S BELOVED

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 22
Author(s):  
Yuniar Fatmasari
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
The Body ◽  
Personal Life ◽  
Young Generation ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Past ◽  
Enslaved Women ◽  
Negative Images ◽  
The Mind

This study reveals the ideological strategies the dominant takes to exploit Black enslaved women’s womb experienced by the characters in Toni Morrison’s Beloved as well as their resistance. Written in 1987, the novel is set eight years after the end of the Civil War in time painful experiences during slavery era are still there in the mind of ex-enslaved Black women and men. The novel narrates the past through personal life experiences presented by Sethe and Baby Suggs. During slavery era, their bodies are not merely used to work in the plantation area but since they are women, their wombs are valuable commodity providing advantages and profit to the masters. To make it possible, the dominant function ideological strategies to control the Black enslaved women’s wombs. Therefore, this study tries to explore how the ideological strategies are practiced in the novel. According to Collins, creating negative images such as mammy, breeder woman, and jezebel addresses to the bodies of Black enslaved women belongs to ideological strategy which is more powerful compared to theeconomic and politic strategy. Each image covers dominant interest to control Black women’s womb under new-progressive capitalism in United States. The result of the study shows that those three images works effectively to control the Black enslaved women, even nowadays, those images are still there in the body of young generation of Black women and provide another form of womb’scontrol. However, the study as well finds out that the resistance toward the oppression is also varied. Self-definition is presumed to be a fundamental element to the journey of internalized oppression to the ‘free mind’ which eventually leads to the action of resistance. With this self-definition, Blackwomen begin to deny the existed negative images controlling their wombs.

Everyday Hair Discourses of African Black Women

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 158-172
Author(s):  
Zukiswa Majali ◽  
Jan K. Coetzee ◽  
Asta Rau
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Black People ◽  
Significant Part ◽  
Black Hair ◽  
African Women ◽  
Black African ◽  
The Past ◽  
Black Person ◽  
Normative Discourse ◽  
African Black

Hair for African Black people has always had meaning. In the past, elaborate hairstyles communicated their status, identity, and place within the larger society. In present day society, hair continues to be a significant part of being an African Black person. Especially for women, who attach a number of different meanings to hair. This study casts more light on young African Black women’s everyday perceptions of hair and uncovers the meanings they attach to hair and beauty. This is done by looking at how the intersections of race, gender, and class impact on their everyday perceptions and experiences of hair. The literature indicates that the hair preferences and choices of Black African women tend to emulate Western notions of beauty. This is due to a great extent to the historical link between Black hair and “bad” hair associated with old slave days. But, the narratives of participants contradict this normative discourse in many ways and provide new insights on hair — insights that reflect and motivate antiracist aesthetics.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Dána-Ain Davis
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Premature Birth ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care ◽  
African American Woman ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
American Woman ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Birth Stories ◽  
Birth Story ◽  
A Site

The introduction sheds light on the crisis of premature birth among Black women. It lays out the theoretical terrain on which premature birth is generally understood and develops the rationale of linking the issue to past ideologies and practices of medical racism. Premature birth and medical racism are introduced through the birth story of a young African American woman who was a college student when she became pregnant and later gave birth to a daughter, born three months prematurely, who was admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Grounded in a Black feminist framework, which privileges Black women’s experiences as a site of knowledge production, the chapter describes the book’s theoretical foundation; its methodological approach; and its use of birth stories, interviews, ethnographic observations, and archival sources to understand Black women’s medical encounters.

Blackness and Televisual Reparations

2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 12-18
Author(s):  
Brandy Monk-Payton
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Television Industry ◽  
The Past ◽  
Television Screen ◽  
Racial Injustice ◽  
Afterlife Of Slavery

The television screen has increasingly come to serve as a complex threshold for images of blackness across genres. What could be termed “televisual reparations,” therefore, emphasizes the medium's attempts to address the paradox of black “unfreedom” and provide redress for continuing race-related grievances, especially those connected to histories of violence. Such televisual acts of reparation occur at the levels of television industry, text, and audience. The industry maintains a tenuous commitment to provide opportunities for African American producers, writers, directors, and actors to the degree that such practice continues to be helpful to the reputation of the medium as well as profitable. The programming created often comments on civil rights by mobilizing references to the past of racial injustice in a variety of imaginative ways. Reparations, in this way, underscore how blackness comes to be televisually transmitted to audiences through the realm of spirits—spirits that come to resonate with viewers and call forth engagement with, and response to, representations of black mortality in the afterlife of slavery.

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