Summary
For three decades, Angela Y. Davis has written on liberation theory and democratic praxis. Challenging the foundations of mainstream discourse, her analyses of culture, gender, capital, and race have profoundly influenced democratic theory, antiracist feminism, critical studies and political struggles.Even for readers who primarily know her as a revolutionary of the late 1960s and early 1970s (or as a political icon for militant activism) she has greatly expanded the scope and range of social philosophy and political theory. Expanding critical theory, contemporary progressive theorists - engaged in justice struggles - will find their thought influenced by the liberation praxis of Angela Y. Davis.The Angela Y. Davis Reader presents eighteen essays from her writings and interviews which have appeared in If They Come in the Morning, Women, Race, and Class, Women, Culture, and Politics, and Black Women and the Blues as well as articles published in women's, ethnic/black studies and communist journals, and cultural studies anthologies. In four parts - "Prisons, Repression, and Resistance", "Marxism, Anti-Racism, and Feminism", "Aesthetics and Culture", and recent interviews - Davis examines revolutionary politics and intellectualism.Davis's discourse chronicles progressive political movements and social philosophy. It is essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary political philosophy, critical race theory, social theory, ethnic studies, American studies, African American studies, cultural theory, feminist philosophy, gender studies.
Author Biography
Joy James teaches Political Theory in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is the author of several noted books and publications on Feminism, Critical Race Theory, and Democratic Politics, including Transcending the Talented Tenth: Black Leaders and American Intellectuals (1997).
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments |
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vii | |
Introduction |
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1 | (28) |
Part I Prisons, Repression, and Resistance |
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Excerpts from Angela Davis: An Autobiography |
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29 | (10) |
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Political Prisoners, Prisons, and Black Liberation |
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39 | (14) |
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Unfinished Lecture on Liberation-II |
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53 | (8) |
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Race and Criminalization: Black Americans and the Punishment Industry |
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61 | (13) |
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From the Prison of Slavery to the Slavery of Prison: Frederick Douglass and the Convict Lease System |
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74 | (22) |
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Racialized Punishment and Prison Abolition |
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96 | (15) |
Part II Marxism, Anti-Racism, and Feminism |
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Reflections on the Black Woman's Role in the Community of Slaves |
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111 | (18) |
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Rape, Racism, and the Capitalist Setting |
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129 | (9) |
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Violence Against Women and the Ongoing Challenge to Racism |
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138 | (11) |
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JoAnne Little: The Dialectics of Rape |
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149 | (12) |
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Women and Capitalism: Dialectics of Oppression and Liberation |
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161 | (32) |
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The Approaching Obsolescence of Housework: A Working-Class Perspective |
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193 | (17) |
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Surrogates and Outcast Mothers: Racism and Reproductive Politics in the Nineties |
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210 | (12) |
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Black Women and the Academy |
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222 | (13) |
Part III Aesthetics and Culture |
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Art on the Frontline: Mandate for a People's Culture |
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235 | (13) |
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I Used To Be Your Sweet Mama: Ideology, Sexuality, and Domesticity |
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248 | (17) |
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Underexposed: Photography and Afro-American History |
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265 | (8) |
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Afro Images: Politics, Fashion, and Nostalgia |
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273 | (6) |
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Meditations on the Legacy of Malcolm X |
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279 | (10) |
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Black Nationalism: The Sixties and the Nineties |
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289 | (8) |
Part IV Interviews |
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Coalition Building Among People of Color: A Discussion with Angela Y. Davis and Elizabeth Martinez |
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297 | (10) |
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Reflections on Race, Class, and Gender in the USA |
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307 | (40) |
Part V Appendix |
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Opening Defense Statement Presented by Angela Y. Davis in Santa Clara County Superior Court, March 29, 1972 |
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329 | (18) |
Selected Bibliography |
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347 | (2) |
Index |
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349 | |