ABSTRACT

This groundbreaking book presents conceptual, theoretical and applied research on women's life histories. The authors fulfill two needs: they provide a collection of essays that grapple with controversial issues in the study of life history, and they present many narratives from women of color, the majority collected and interpreted by women of color. The individual chapters offer a variety of voices linked by a philosophical and political orientation that places women of color at the center of scholarly inquiry rather than at the periphery. Ultimately, readers find in this text innovative ways of reconceptualizing the complexities of women's lives.

chapter |12 pages

Introduction

part |54 pages

Mothers, Family, and Survival

chapter 1|15 pages

From a Lineage of Southern Women

She Has Left Us Empty and Full of Her

chapter 2|17 pages

“You Don't Live Just for Yourselves”

Stories from a Chinese Woman in Atlanta

chapter 3|19 pages

More than a Mother

Some Tewa Women Reflect on Gia

part |51 pages

Transformation and Change

chapter 4|15 pages

“I Know Who I Am”

The Collaborative Life History of a Shoshone Indian Woman

chapter 5|16 pages

The Multiple and Transformatory Identities of Puerto Rican Women in the U.S.

Reconstructing the Discourse on National Identity

chapter 6|17 pages

“I Have a Frog in My Stomach”

Mythology and Truth in Life History

part |59 pages

Language, History, and Culture

chapter 7|16 pages

“Tryin' to Make Ends Meet”

African American Women's Work on Brooks Farm, 1920–1970

chapter 8|29 pages

“Comrade Sisters”

Two Women of the Black Panther Party

chapter 9|11 pages

From the Inside Out

Survival and Continuity in African American Women's Oral Narratives

part |44 pages

Insiders and Outsiders

chapter 10|17 pages

“Hands in the Chit'lins”

Notes on Native Anthropological Research among African American Women

chapter 11|13 pages

An Anthropological Approach to Cambodian Refugee Women

Reciprocity in Oral Histories

chapter 12|10 pages

Like Us But Not One of Us

Reflections on a Life History Study of African American Teachers