2249 - #CiteBlackWomen: Centering and Celebrating Black Women in Sociology

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Description

What started out as a small idea on twitter turned out to be a mini-movement in Philly. On the Saturday of 2018 ASA conference, scores of sociologists were seen donning t-shirts adorned only with simple writing #CITEBLACKWOMEN and the message was clear. It was a call out to cite black women as a tool to fight the intellectual and positional erasure of black women and their merits in the academy. This panel seeks to ensure that the 2018 moment might transition to a larger movement that centers and celebrates black women sociologists. Questions the panelist will address include: Who belongs in the cannon of black women sociologists and who are the contemporary innovators? Who is even included (or who is excluded) when we say, black women? What guides our gatekeeping practices in publishing and how can we make them more inclusive and equitable? What might we lose if we don’t listen to black women today? How might we make this symbolic gesture of #citeblackwomen into something more praxis oriented? Beyond citing black women, how can we further support black women in our discipline and the academy?

Sub Unit

• Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities

Session Organizer

• Whitney Nicole Laster Pirtle, University of California - Merced

Presider

• Whitney Nicole Laster Pirtle, University of California - Merced

Panelists

• Crystal Marie Fleming, SUNY Stony Brook

• Tressie Cottom, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Zakiya T. Luna, University of California, Santa Barbara

• Christen Smith, Founder, Cite Black Women