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In her section on “Othermothers,” Collins examines the value of the cooperative approach to childcare and some of the reasons for white, middle-class America’s apparent rejection of this practice. What, in your opinion, prevents white women from practicing “othermothering” more widely, and what contributes to the decline of “othermothering” that Collins notes in African-American communities? Could more widespread “othermothering” solve the childcare problem, or does it just keep more women out of the paid workforce? What does the relative absence of “othermothering” say about white middle-class norms, the middle-class love of all things ‘privatized’? Cite from the readings to support your response.please,use attach for cite work
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“Racial domination and economic exploitation profoundly shape the
mothering context, not only for racial ethnic women in the U.S., but for all
women,” writes Patricia Hill Collins (right) in “Shifting the Center.” But while
many of the white, middle-class feminist mothers and scholars we read in
earlier SubUnits have addressed the economic concerns of mothers, Collins
shows how their examinations are far from exhaustive and how their silence
on race is extremely problematic. If we ‘shift the center’ to focus on the
experiences of women of color, we find that many of the key relationships
that structure the analyses of the last two sections either do not apply, or
apply very differently to women who are not white, heterosexual and middleclass. Thus, Collins concludes, “Feminist theories of motherhood are valuable
as partial perspectives, but cannot be seen as theories of motherhood
generalizable to all women… Varying placement in systems of privilege,
whether race, class, sexuality or age, generates divergent experiences with
motherhood… Shifting the center to accommodate this diversity promises to
recontextualize motherhood and point us toward feminist theorizing that
embraces difference as an essential part of commonality.” In many respects,
Collins’ goal is similar to Rich’s: to deconstruct and recontextualize
motherhood, to replace limited, entrenched ideas about this institution with
something more dynamic, inclusive and egalitarian. But Collins greatly
expands and enriches the set of issues we must continue to contend with in
our quest to revolutionize motherhood.
In the lecture summarizing Collins’ chapter “Work, Family and Black
Women’s Oppression” from her book Black Feminist Thought, Collins again
‘shifts the center;’ “Rather than trying to explain why Black women’s work
and family patterns deviate from the seeming normality of the traditional
family ideal, a more fruitful approach lies in challenging the very constructs
of work and family themselves.” She urges us again to recognize that not only
are our ideas about motherhood (both the tradition and the critiques of the
tradition) not universal, but even the ways we conceive of fundamental
institutions like work and family are very specific to race, class, gender and
sexual orientation. She offers a history of the conditions of Black women’s
employment and its effects on Black families, communities and civil society, a
history which provides important context for examining Black and White
perspectives on motherhood and the choice to work or stay at home.
In the “Black Women and Motherhood” reading, Collins balances her critique
of white, “mainstream” ideas about Black motherhood with a critique of
views emanating from within the African-American community, arguing, “”In
general, African-American women need a revitalized Black feminist analysis
of motherhood that debunks the image of ‘happy slave,’ whether the Whitemale-created ‘matriarch’ or the Black-male-perpetuated ‘superstrong Black
mother.” Recognizing that “Black motherhood” is even just within itself an
extremely diverse and dynamic concept, Collins offers “five enduring themes
that have characterized and, for many African-American women, continue to
characterize a Black women’s standpoint on Black motherhood” and asks us
to evaluate the extent to which these themes remain useful in our rapidly
changing culture.
Finally, in “Black Women Have Always Worked,” Riche Barnes’ look at the
Black middle class blends some of the concerns raised in the first two
Subunits with some of those addressed by Collins. She critiques the model of
the ‘strong Black woman’ from the perspective of more privileged, educated
Black women who challenge inherited ideas about the Black family in an
effort to strengthen Black families and communities. She also works to
combat unfair media stereotypes of Black men and women that continue to
undermine family relationships.
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