From Black Power to Hip Hop: Racism, Nationalism, and Feminism

Sociologist Collins (Black Feminist Thought; Black Sexual Politics) turns her eye toward young African American women who have chosen to explore feminism through pop culture instead of academia in this sometimes rousing, sometimes plodding anthology of six essays. As the title suggests, Collins's overarching focus is on African American nationalism and feminism between the end of Black Power and the rise of hip hop culture. She offers a lively analysis of ""hip hop feminism"" espoused by Joan Morgan and other writers. ""They see the incongruity of learning about feminism in their college classrooms, yet their response lies not in becoming academics who broker commodified knowledge within the academic marketplace."" Also intriguing is her assessment of the divergence within the feminism movement, fueled in part by white feminism's failure to recognize the value of the work women of color do in their communities, resulting in a ""colorblind racism"" that has taken the place of active discrimination and leaves young African American women torn between an individualistic feminism and a community-oriented black nationalism. Though Collins devotes too much time to rehashing studies of race in America that other scholars published in the 1990s, her analysis of the choices facing women of the hip hop generation is provocative and invaluable.