Black Intimacies

Book excerpt: In Black Intimacies: A Gender Perspective on Families and Relationships, Shirley A. Hill applies a gender lens to the multiple systems of oppression that have shaped the lives of African American women and men. She challenges the image of a monolithic black population, a legacy of the civil rights movement that she argues is impossible to sustain in the postmodern era. Through a critique of intersectionality theory, Hill examines the ways in which gender has affected experiences of intimacy, family relationships, child rearing and motherhood for contemporary African Americans. Drawing on ethnographic material, interviews, and scholarly research, Hill's work rethinks the cultural and historical definitions of black identity, and reconceptualizes the various forms of oppression faced by black women. This book will be useful to students and instructors of African American Studies, Gender Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, Marriage and Family, and Social Work.