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Race, Class, and Gender in the United States (7th Edition), Ed. Paula S. Rothenberg (Worth Publishers, 2007, $50.95 paperback)
Paula Rothenberg’s extensive reader illustrates the multitudinous ways that race, class, and gender affect the lives of Americans, informing nearly every aspect of public and private life from personal well-being to economic mobility. Beginning with a section exploring the “Social Construction of Difference,” the volume proceeds to examine such topics as the history of discrimination (including legal history), its effects on those who experience it, and the challenges to and methods of eradicating inequity. Rewritten to include the most recent statistical data possible, the seventh edition includes seventy new articles, a new section (“Complicating Questions of Race and Ethnicity”), and an expanded section on “Discrimination in Everyday Life.”
Rothenberg’s reader uses text from a variety of genres (including scholarly analysis, government documents, legal records, newspaper and magazine articles, first-person commentary, and poetry) to illustrate inequity. The volume deconstructs notions that “whiteness” does not confer privilege, that women no longer suffer from sexism, that race relations in the U.S. are a matter of “black and white,” and that class in America is entirely mutable. The breadth of Rothenberg’s source material both sustains her argument and renders it accessible to new students of diversity. Disconcerting and compelling, the volume’s materials condemn apathy and argue for personal action.
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From Oppression to Grace: Women of Color and Their Dilemmas within the Academy, Eds. Theodorea Regina Berry and Nathalie D. Mizelle (Stylus Publishing, LLC, 2006, $24.95 paperback)
In constructing this narrative anthology, editors Theodorea Regina Berry and Nathalie D. Mizelle build on the principles of Critical Race Feminism, which “places women of color at the center, rather than the margins” of inquiry into what it means to be a woman of color in contemporary society. Berry and Mizelle solicited articles from women of a range of identities, focusing on three rungs of the academic career ladder: pre-PhD attainment; junior professorship; and senior scholarship. The result is a collection of theoretically informed first-person narratives that examine the multiple positions, experiences, and identities of women of color in academic professions.
As the editors note, From Oppression to Grace implies both the movement from relative subjugation to relative freedom and describes the range of experiences felt by women whose relationships to power shift with context. Contributing authors reflect on the roles their multiple identities play as they navigate personal and academic waters. Their stories have the potential both to guide women of color through the academic gauntlet and to inform men and white women about the specific and various challenges women of color encounter in the academy. This anthology illustrates the power of Critical Race Feminism’s lens, examines the complexity of intersecting identities, and belies the need for continued change in the U.S. academy.
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Sisters in Science: Conversations with Black Women Scientists on Race, Gender, and Their Passion for Science, by Diann Jordan (Purdue University Press, 2006, $24.95 hardcover)
Recognizing that the voices of black women scientists are too often unheard, and that a career in science remains an elusive goal for young African American women, editor Diann Jordan set out to interview successful black women scientists and to publish their stories for a broader audience. The resulting collection honors a diverse group of visionary women who ignored the expectations imposed upon them by race and gender. They forged successful careers in scientific fields. While subjects speak for themselves through the interviews, Jordan provides an extensive introduction that surveys the historical participation of black women in the sciences and summarizes her impressions of the interviews.
As the title of the book suggests, Jordan sees black women scientists as “sisters” allied by their shared experience. Alliances across cultures and genders also appear throughout the interviews as important resources for women pursuing careers in science. In some cases, women attributed their successes to early interventions on their behalf by white men and women; but the interviews also illustrate the continued need for more supportive alliance building among women across races. When asked to differentiate between the effects of race and gender on their careers, some subjects indicated that they felt more constrained by gender expectations than race, while others suggested that the barriers they met were race-based rather than gendered. Jordan’s collection illustrates the intricate relationships between race, class, and gender, and the widely divergent influence these factors can have on a career trajectory.
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