Black and Female: Essays (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781644452110)

The first wound for all of us who are classified as "black" is empire.

In Black and Female, Tsitsi Dangarembga examines the legacy of imperialism on her own life and on every aspect of black embodied African life.

This paradigm-shifting essay collection weaves the personal and political in an illuminating exploration of race and gender. Dangarembga recounts a painful separation from her parents as a toddler, connecting this experience to the ruptures caused in Africa by human trafficking and enslavement. She argues that, after independence, the ruling party in Zimbabwe only performed inclusion for women while silencing the work of self-actualized feminists. She describes her struggles to realize her ambitions in theater, film, and literature, laying out the long path to the publication of her novels.

At once philosophical, intimate, and urgent, Black and Female is a powerful testimony of the pervasive and long-lasting effects of racism and patriarchy that provides an ultimately hopeful vision for change. Black feminists are "the status quo's worst nightmare." Dangarembga writes, "our conviction is deep, bolstered by a vivid imagination that reminds us that other realities are possible beyond the one that obtains."

Author: Tsitsi Dangarembga
ISBN-10: 1644452111
ISBN-13: 9781644452110
Publisher: Graywolf Press
Language: English
Published: 01/17/2023
Pages: 128
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.49lbs
Size: 7.29h x 4.84w x 0.68d

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 08/01/2022 pg. 13
Kirkus Reviews 11/15/2022
Publishers Weekly 11/28/2022
Library Journal 01/01/2023 pg. 87