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The frontiers of sisterhood: representations of black feminism in Spare Rib (1972-1979)

Chambers, Donna and Worrall, Rob (2017) The frontiers of sisterhood: representations of black feminism in Spare Rib (1972-1979). In: Re-reading Spare Rib. Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 159-178. ISBN 978-3-319-49309-1

Item Type: Book Section

Abstract

In 1996 Hazel Carby in a chapter titled ‘White Woman Listen!’ argued that ‘most contemporary feminist theory does not begin to adequately account for the experience of black women’. This chapter recognises the utility of black feminist theory as a framework for undertaking a critical interrogation of the (her)story of the black woman and how she has been represented in the most iconic British feminist magazine of the 20th century – Spare Rib. Through critical investigations of the first 8 years of the magazine 1972-1979, a period which was central both to the emergent women’s liberation movement and also to the development of radical black activism in Britain, we problematize the way in which the black woman has been portrayed both in terms of textual and visual narratives. The questions which we seek to explore include what is the extent of (in)visibility of black feminist issues during this era ? What key concepts/issues are seen as central to the lives of black women during this initial 8-year period and how and to what extent did these change? Who was invested with the authority to speak about black women’s issues? To what extent are the issues in Spare Rib reflective of movements in the wider media and society with regard to black feminism? It is hoped that the explorations in this chapter will shed light on the treatment by Spare Rib of issues of intersectionality between race and gender during this period, one which was of importance for the emergence of a movement dedicated to expressing the differentiated voices of women.

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More Information

Uncontrolled Keywords: black feminism, Spare Rib
Depositing User: Donna Chambers

Identifiers

Item ID: 8062
ISBN: 978-3-319-49309-1
URI: http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/id/eprint/8062

Users with ORCIDS

ORCID for Donna Chambers: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9502-9919

Catalogue record

Date Deposited: 10 Oct 2017 12:56
Last Modified: 20 May 2019 12:33

Contributors

Author: Donna Chambers ORCID iD
Author: Rob Worrall

University Divisions

Faculty of Business, Law and Tourism

Subjects

Tourism > Tourism

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