"They don't think I'm viable, because I'm a Black woman with natural hair and no husband." This comment was made by Stacey Abrams shortly before the 2018 Democratic primary after she became the first Black woman to win a majory party's nomination for governor. Abrams' sentiment reflects the wider environment for Black women in politics, in which racist and sexist cultural ideas have long led Black women to be demeaned and fetishized for their physical appearance. In Sister Style, ...

In Sister Style, Nadia E. Brown and Danielle Casarez Lemi argue that Black women's political experience and the way that voters evaluate them is shaped overtly by their skin tone and hair texture, with hair being a particular point of scrutiny. They ask what the politics of appearance for Black women mean for Black women politicians and Black voters, and how expectations about self-presentation differ for Black women versus Black men, White men, and White women. Black women runnin...

Democracy cannot be taken for granted, whether at home or internationally, and eternal vigilance (along with civic intelligence) is required to protect it. Approaching Democracy provides students with a framework to analyze the structure, process, and action of US government, institutions, and social movements. It also invites comparison with other countries. This globalizing perspective gives students an understanding of issues of governance and challenges to democracy here and e...

The politics of the body is often highly contested, culturally specific, and controlled, and this book calls our attention to how bodies are included or excluded in the polity.With governments regulating bodies in ways that mark the political boundaries of who is a citizen, worthy of protection and rights, as well as those who transgress socially proscribed norms, the contributors to this volume offer a systematic investigation of both theoretical and empirical account of bodily di...

This book focuses on women of color political elites in the United States in varying levels of office and non-elected positions.In recent years increased attention has been paid to the role that women of color play in U.S. politics. These actors bring different priorities to office and also have to navigate not only sexism, but also barriers due to their racial or ethnic identity among other politically salient identities such as sexual orientation, nativity, immigration status, re...

Me Too Political Science explores the multiple manifestations and implications of gendered biases in Political Science by "connecting the dots" between the sexual harassment described in the recent report on 2017 American Political Science Association’s Survey on Sexual Harassment at Annual Meetings and other problematic issues.Started by Tarana Burke in 2007 to stand with young women of color who survived sexual assault, the MeToo campaign was intended to let women know t...

This collection provides a deep engagement with the political implication of Black Lives Matter. This book covers a broad range of topics using a variety of methods and epistemological approaches.In the twenty-first century, the killings of Black Americans have sparked a movement to end the brutality against Black bodies. In 2013, #BlackLivesMatter would become a movement-building project led by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi. This movement began after the acquitta...

This volume presents a detailed and in-depth examination of women of color political elites in the United States in varying levels of office and non-elected positions.Through innovative data, novel theoretical frameworks, and compelling arguments, the chapters in this book explore how women of color political elites are changing, challenging, or upending the status quo in American politics. Beyond an additive approach of either race or gender the authors in this volume employ an in...

This book includes essays that directly uncover how power asymmetries and related forms of marginalization and oppression function in the political and policy arenas with a special emphasis on the intersection of several systems of subordination.This edited volume tackles two main questions: first, what are the main claims, struggles, and possibilities of contemporary intersectional feminisms; and second, how shall we, as scholars, address intersectional (feminist) activisms in our...

The second edition of Distinct Identities continues to provide a sophisticated yet accessible introduction to the complexities of the politics, social structures, and cultural contexts that animate how women of color engage in and shape U.S. politics. Keeping the structure of the original volume, this text represents the diverse and innovative scholarship being conducted in this field while covering the core topics in gender politics.What’s New:Chapters on qu...