Black Women Talk Politics

"An important and timely volume that highlights the breadth and depth of Black women's and gender expansive scholars' contributions to political science. Black Women Talk Politics opens up possibilities and pathways for meaningful scholar-activism within and beyond the discipline and shows the generative potential of intentional, caring, well-crafted scholarly Black women's gatherings." — Robin L. Turner, Butler University

"Black Women Talk Politics makes a significant contribution—one that is both long overdue and remarkably forward-looking. Political science has often struggled to take seriously the lived experiences and intellectual labor of scholars from marginalized communities. Oral history, when used at all, has typically centered elite voices and reinforced disciplinary gatekeeping. Here, oral history is more than a methodological choice—it's a subversive intervention! By elevating storytelling, memory, and mentorship to the level of formal scholarship, the volume challenges dominant narratives about what counts as knowledge in the discipline. It models citation justice, archival care, and collaborative authorship as scholarly practices. It is ambitious in both content and form. It doesn't just profile individual scholars; it creates a living archive. It teaches. It remembers. It passes down knowledge across generations. And it does so while offering readers—especially students and early-career scholars—a model for how to do political science differently: with care, rigor, and a deep commitment to community." — Ray Block Jr., coauthor of Black Networks Matter: The Role of Interracial Contact and Social Media in the 2020 Black Lives Matter Protests

"This book is for every single Black woman and BIPOC scholar who has encountered anything less than love in higher education. More than the documentation of an event or individual careers, Black Women Talk Politics is a world-building blueprint that demonstrates the necessity and radical impact of community care, truth-telling, and feminist praxis. Methodologically sophisticated and conceptually original, it upholds a sociality that will make it possible for more Black women, femmes, and queer and non-binary folx to build power through community. I expect many will follow this movement." — Ruth Nicole Brown, author of Hear Our Truths: The Creative Potential of Black Girlhood