ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author describes the significance of black feminist ethnography as a way to expound upon the insights and interiority of black girlhood through the conceptual work of Jennifer C. Nash’s “felt life of black feminism” to frame the felt life of black girlhood in love, loss, and loyalty. Paradise’s narrative contributes to black feminist sociology by illustrating how experiences in childhood begin to shape how black women resist, survive, and strategize in their womanhoods. A black feminist read of and engagement with ethnographic methods (e.g., participant observation, direct observation, in combination with interviews) centers a familiarity in that people understand the stakes of their reality based on circumstances and experiences they live through. Paradise’s narrative and relationships illuminate the implications of how historical and structural violence move through the lives of black girls who create alternative support systems.
