Barlow Jameta, Smith Gabrielle
George Washington University, Washington, 20052-0086 United States.
Texas Woman's University, Denton, 76204 United States.
Agenda. 2019;33(3):19-33. doi: 10.1080/10130950.2019.1668725. Epub 2019 Oct 20.
The everyday lived experiences of Southern Black American women in the United States (US) are rarely explicitly characterised in Black Feminisms' discourse. The lack of an active discourse surrounding the Southern Black women's identity is a glaring weakness in the broader discussion of feminism (Rushing, 2009; 2017). From Black women who historically worked as day workers, cleaning the homes of white families while their families fended for themselves, to the contemporary phenomena of home health care aid workers charged with cleaning and caring for individuals, often older and white, Southern Black women's ways of knowing have framed not only the civil rights movement (Emmons et al, 2013); but also contemporary social movements such as #SayHerName and the agency of digital social phenomena such as Black Twitter. Past social movements emphasised space and the meaningfulness of the South concerning civil rights, yet current discourse fails to integrate region and location in the narrative of these movements, thus missing opportunities to explore the "complexity and explanatory power" place contributes (Rushing, 2017:1). The proliferation of digital platforms such as podcasts, videos, social media stories focused on health demonstrate how Black women are reclaiming their health, and bringing others along with them. However, the theorisation of what we term Southern Black Feminisms, specifically as it relates to Black women's health, is lacking. This theoretical article, informed by qualitative and quantitative data from both authors' previous research, will build a profile for Southern Black women in the US, characterise Southern Black Feminisms and propose a Southern Black woman informed, evidence-based framework addressing health inequities among Southern Black women. The goal is to demonstrate how the experiences of everyday Black women in the US South and the Global South are connected, especially with African Diasporic women, and consider how potential alliances can contribute to collective resistance and action.
美国南部黑人女性的日常生活经历在美国黑人女性主义话语中很少得到明确描述。围绕南部黑人女性身份缺乏积极的论述，这在更广泛的女性主义讨论中是一个明显的弱点（拉辛，2009年；2017年）。从历史上作为日工工作、在自己家人自顾不暇时打扫白人家庭的黑人女性，到如今负责为个人（通常是老年白人）打扫和护理的家庭健康护理援助工作者这一当代现象，南部黑人女性的认知方式不仅塑造了民权运动（埃蒙斯等人，2013年）；还塑造了诸如#说出她的名字等当代社会运动以及诸如黑人推特等数字社会现象的能动性。过去的社会运动强调空间以及南方在民权方面的意义，但当前的论述未能将地区和地点纳入这些运动的叙述中，从而错失了探索地点所具有的“复杂性和解释力”的机会（拉辛，2017年：1）。播客、视频、关注健康的社交媒体故事等数字平台的激增，展示了黑人女性如何在恢复自身健康的同时，也带动了其他人。然而，我们所说的南部黑人女性主义理论，尤其是与黑人女性健康相关的理论却付诸阙如。这篇理论文章以两位作者先前研究中的定性和定量数据为依据，将勾勒出美国南部黑人女性的概况，界定南部黑人女性主义，并提出一个基于南部黑人女性且有证据支持的框架，以解决南部黑人女性之间的健康不平等问题。目标是展示美国南部和全球南部日常黑人女性的经历是如何相互关联的，尤其是与非洲散居地女性的关联，并思考潜在的联盟如何能够促进集体抵抗和行动。
