Date of Award
Spring 2019
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (A.B.)
Restricted/Unrestricted
Unrestricted
Abstract
This thesis examines the effects of misogynoir— a specific form of oppression Black women experience due to the intersection of being deemed inferior in both race and gender— on the development of Black girlhood. In Black feminist theory and criticism, though, the language used often subordinates Black girls and does not ascribe adequate import to their experiences. Using the Black girl bildungsroman, specifically The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson, as a way to survey the effects of misogynoir and the significance of homosocial, intraracial bonding, I argue that Black feminisms should center Black girlhood in their theories in order to understand the position of Black girls in American social structures more thoroughly. With a consideration of Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf, I also argue that an in-depth analysis of Black girlhood is necessary in order to understand the complexities Black womanhood.
Mentor
Dr. Rafia Zafar
Additional Advisors
Dr. Long Le-Khac, Dr. William Maxwell
Recommended Citation
Bailey, Taylor L., "In a Child's Place: Centering Black Girlhood in Black Feminisms through the Bildungsroman" (2019). Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses. 19.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/undergrad_etd/19
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Africana Studies Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Women's Studies Commons