Black Feminism and Collective Intimacy: Towards a Hemispheric approach to Contemporary Black Politics and Social Movements

• In Event: Re-thinking Radical, Part 2: New social movements and the radical Black Feminist Politic

Abstract

This paper interrogates the role of intimacy in contemporary Black mobilizations throughout the Americas. I argue that Black women's experiences with anti-black violence are often articulated and interpreted through a collective lens, whereby Black women use a language of intimacy to describe their experiences with state violence, and also use domains of the intimate to empower themselves, families, and communities. Drawing on collaborative research with Black feminist organizations in Brazil and Colombia, I analyze the ways that a politic of collective intimacy provides a way to resist state violence, hold community and family members accountable, and envision justice beyond the state.

Presenter

• Alysia Mann Carey, University of Chicago