James Dawson
Poli 265
9/5/2012
Micro theme 1 US Black feminist thought reflects the distinctive themes of African- American women’s experiences. The core themes of black feminist thought includes politics, motherhood, and political activism. Black feminist thought has not come easy because of the struggles they have had to deal with by living in a world that is interpreted by white men. Black feminist thought uses different ways of validating what is deemed knowledge than the traditional western epistemology. Music, literature, conversation, and every day behavior are used to form the black feminist consciousness. “Black women have long produced knowledge claims that contested those advanced by elite white men” (Collins 272). However black women have been denied authority to validate their knowledge which has left them relying on alternative knowledge validation processes. The consequences of this include academic disciplines rejecting claim, credentials denied, and pressure from authorities being placed on them. Just as Hemming’s decedents weren’t believed, neither are many black women. The standards of black epistemology include lived experiences, the use of dialogue, the ethics of caring, and the ethics of personal accountability. “Living life requires wisdom because knowledge about the dynamics of intersecting oppressions has been essential to US Black women’s survival” (Collins 275). The use of dialogue is important because black feminist thought is not formed by one person alone but rather by many people conversing. The ethics of caring show personal expressiveness, emotions, and empathy are central to the knowledge and validation process. The ethics of personal accountability are important in forming black feminist thought because people are held personally accountable for what they say. These standards are completely different from the standards held for Eurocentric or Western knowledge validation processes. The only two political criteria for western epistemology are the claims are evaluated by experts whose members bring them a host of sedimented experiences that reflect that group and that each community of experts must maintain credibility as defined by the public (Collins 271). . There are significant differences between the epistemology representing elite white men and the epistemology expressing black feminist thought. Since the majority of the public and the ones who have the most influence are elite white males, it is difficult for US black feminist thought to be validated by a credible source.