In this Spark series, we are recognizing a special occasion: 50 years of Black Women’s Studies in higher education. Thus, we invite submissions that celebrate Black women and girls. We are particularly interested in writings that reflect the multifaceted lives of Black women and girls in ways that shed new insights and theories about the politics of race, gender, and sexuality in our current moment. 

We ask: How might we center the experiences of Black women and girls to assess the current political climate, imagine the possibilities of liberation and justice, develop radical strategies for resistance, and engage holistic practices of survival, wellness, and thriving? What are new theories Black women and girls that have emerged since the early inception of Black Women’s Studies? In short, how might we celebrate the Black woman + girl to usher in new, speculative, critical and even fantastic ideas about Black women and girls, and women’s studies in the U.S. and globally? Some contexts to consider in relation to Black women and girls, include but are not limited to:

  • Mothering practices
  • Relationship to love, sex and relationships
  • Relationships to religion and spirituality
  • Community activism and grassroots organizing
  • Relationships to queerness and LGBTQ identity and politics
  • Literary, intellectual, political and cultural herstories
  • The arts (music, dance, visual, sculpting, film and media)
  • Relationship to fashion
  • Leadership
  • Relationships to white women and men
  • Relationships to Trans* women of Color
  • Relationships to wellness, emotional politics and rejuvenation
  • Voting practices and relationships to justice
  • Educational philosophies

Please submit your pitch by Monday, December 2. Priority will be given to members of the Diversity Scholars Network. We welcome you to review our writing guidelines and for an example of our other work, check out our series on nonbinary identities.

This series will be curated by David B. Green Jr., Director of Diversity and Inclusion at the Sage Colleges.