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Uniform TitleThe political spaces of Black women in the city:
identity, agency, and the flow of social capital in Newark, NJ
NameWilson, Kellie Darice (author), Hawkesworth, Mary (chair), Carroll, Susan (internal member), Regulska, Joanna (internal member), Junn, Jane (outside member), Rutgers University, Graduate School - New Brunswick,
Degree Date2007
Date Created2007
SubjectWomen's and Gender Studies,
African American women civic leaders--New Jersey--Newark,
African American women political activists--New Jersey--Newark,
African American women social reformers--New Jersey--Newark,
Women in politics,
Social capital (Sociology)--New Jersey--Newark,
Newark (N.J.)--Social conditions
DescriptionThis project explores U.S. Black women's participation in social networks that enable political mobilizations in Newark, NJ. These networks include religious and social clubs, service clubs, neighborhood associations, indigenous cultural organizations, women's ethnic organizations, labor unions and other types of voluntary organizations that facilitate the creation, flow, and utilization of social capital. These networks transcend allegiance to local, state or national centers of government and often pursue politics that seek to blur or defy well-defined scalar structures. Often they seek to connect politics to larger racialized national trends in political economy while seeking to make social and political change at the local level. Using an interpretivist approach to data collection and analysis, I explore the discursive strategies of politicization, including the positive actions that U.S. Black women take to create and maintain political spaces that can be used to pursue their political objectives in Newark, NJ. This research suggests that in cases when Black women's political agency contributes to Black cultural production, the political support and cultivation of social capital to support Black women's political agency can be expected to flourish. When Black women politically challenge hegemonic elements of Black cultural production--specifically when they have challenged singular, masculinist conceptions of both Blackness and community--the flow of social capital in support of that agency will be stifled, resulting in the lack of social transformation at the local level.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references (p. 235-247).
Genretheses
Persistent URLhttp://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.2/rucore10001600001.ETD.16796
LanguageEnglish
CollectionGraduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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