Centering Women of Color Feminisms

Developed by Karla J. Strand, DPhil, MLIS
Gender and Women’s Studies Librarian
University of Wisconsin
February 2024

This bibliography is number 105a in the series “Bibliographies in Gender and Women’s Studies,” published by the University of Wisconsin System Office of the Gender and Women’s Studies Librarian. It was developed as part of “Honoring Our Past, Securing Our Future: Resilience and Reclamation in Higher Education – A set of bibliographies supporting the 2024 Conference of the UW System Women’s and Gender Studies Consortium.”

Introduction

The direction of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies (WGSS) everywhere is deeply shaped by the leadership, scholarship, and theoretical work of women of color as well as the experiences and perspectives of students of color. This bibliography highlights the central role of race and ethnicity and the critical role played by Black, Indigenous, Asian and Pacific Islander, Latino/a/x and others in shaping WGSS across the UW System, the country, and transnationally. There are many challenges related to teaching, learning, and working in predominantly white institutions and this bibliography will highlight this history alongside strategies for supporting the success and retention of people of color in higher education, particularly as changes to affirmative action shift the legal landscape. We aim to engage with the confluence of feminism, critical race theory, intersectionality, disability studies, and queer theory, particularly as they relate to the impact of women of color feminisms on the growth of WGSS throughout the world.

Start here

• Arvin, M., Tuck, E., & Morrill, A. (2013). Decolonizing feminism: Challenging connections between settler colonialism and heteropatriarchy. Women Formations, 25(1), 8-34.
• Baldwin, D. (2021). In the shadow of the ivory tower: How universities are plundering our cities. Bold Type Books. 
• Berger, M.T., & Guidroz, K. (Eds.). (2009). The intersectional approach: Transforming the academy through race, class, and gender. University of North Carolina Press.
• Cote-Meek, S. (2014). Colonized classrooms: Racism, trauma and resistance in post-secondary education. Fernwood Press.
• Davis, S.M. (2024). Being Black in the ivory: Truth-telling about racism in higher education. University of North Carolina Press. 
• García Peña, L. (2022). Community as rebellion: A syllabus for surviving academia as a woman of color. Haymarket Books. 
• Green, J. (Ed.). (2017). Making space for Indigenous feminisms (2nd ed.) Fernwood Press.
• hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. Routledge.
• hooks, b. (2003). Teaching community. Routledge.  
• hooks, b. (2009). Teaching critical thinking: Practical wisdom. Routledge.
• Journal of International Women’s Studies – https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/
• Marable, M. (Ed.). (2000). Dispatches from the ebony tower: Intellectuals confront the African American experience. Columbia University Press.
• McKay, N. Y. (1982). Black women in the academy. Women’s Studies Research Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• Tate, S.A. & Rodríguez, E.G. (Eds.). (2022). The Palgrave handbook of critical race and gender. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Thobani, S. (Ed.). (2021). Coloniality and racial (in)justice in the university: Counting for nothing? University of Toronto Press. 
• Gutiérrez y Muhs, G. et al. (Eds.). (2012). Presumed incompetent: The intersections of race and class for women in academia. University Press of Colorado.
• Wing, A.K. (Ed.). (2000). Global critical race feminism: An international reader. New York University Press.