Cultivating Promise and Possibility: Black Feminist Thought as an Innovative, 
Interdisciplinary, and International Framework

Special Issue Guest Editor: Rachel Alicia Griffin C Southern Illinois University 
Special Issue Editorial Board Members: Brenda J. Allen (University of Colorado-
Denver), Theodorea Berry (University of Texas at San Antonio), Robin Boylorn 
(University of Alabama), Bernadette Calafell (University of Denver), Karma R. 
Chจขvez (University of Wisconsin, Madison), Patricia Hill Collins (University of 
Maryland), Olga Davis (Arizona State University), Aisha Durham (University of 
South Florida), Tina Harris (University of Georgia), Amber Johnson (Saint Louis 
University), Richard G. Jones (Eastern Illinois University), Omi Osun Joni L. Jones 
(University of Texas, Austin), Ralina Joseph (University of Washington), AnaLouise 
Keating (Texas Womanกฏs University), D. Soyini Madison (Northwestern 
University), Gloria Pindi Nziba (California State University, San Marcos), Mark Orbe 
(Western Michigan University), Oyจจrจฎnke Oyจงwจดmi (Stony Brook University), 
Tracey Owens Patton (University of Wyoming), Tanya Saunders (The Ohio State 
University), Jamila Smith (Eastern Illinois University), Jeanine Weekes Schroer 
(University of Minnesota Duluth), Karla Scott (Saint Louis University), Chanequa 
Walker-Barnes (Mercer University), Carolyn M. West (University of Washington, 
Tacoma), E. Frances White (New York University), Julia Jordan Zachery (Providence 
College) Created by Patricia Hill Collins over 20 years ago, Black Feminist Thought 
(BFT) has flourished in multiple disciplines including sociology, English, political 
science, psychology, education, law, history, philosophy, Africana studies, mass 
communication, and communication studies. Since its inception, BFT has served as 
a key means to unapologetically center the embodied knowledge of Black women 
and foster opportunities for Black women to กฐtalk backกฑ to systemic 
oppression(s). To honor the legacy of BFT and propel its theoretical and 
methodological significance into the future, this special issue will feature critical, 
qualitative, and performative works that productively utilize, challenge, and extend 
BFT.

Essays in this special issue will be characterized by:

1. Innovative approaches to critical, qualitative research (e.g., theoretically, 
methodologically, representationally, aesthetically, etc.).

2. Rich, nuanced, and complex insights into and/or applications of BFT.

3. Provocative uses of critical and qualitative methods to challenge and extend BFT.

Exemplars of how BFT can be industriously challenged and extended include works 
that:

• Address the rich contributions of Black girls/adolescents/women to society 
opposed to a singular focus on what is done to Black girls/adolescents/women by 
society.

• Focus on Black girlhood and/or adolescence given that the majority of BFT 
scholarship focuses on Black womanhood.

• Center Black femininity as a positionality that reflects raced and gendered 
marginalization and privilege (i.e., Black females can be marginalized by race and 
gender and simultaneously privileged by nationality, sexuality, ability, religion, 
etc.).

• Deconstruct the reproduction of privileged ideologies and discourses (e.g., 
classism, homophobia, ableism, Christian hegemony, etc.) in the marginalized 
context of Black womanhood.

• Critique BFTกฏs cisgender normativity (e.g., rarely are Black trans and/or Black 
gender queer women centered, included, addressed, etc.).

• Politically mark BFT as US American BFT (i.e., how might we deeply respect the 
canon of US American BFT while being accountable to how US American and 
Western ethnocentrism often render Black women from beyond Western societies 
invisible and silent?).

• Draw upon African feminisms, Black internationalist feminism, third world 
feminisms, and/or postcolonial feminisms to theorize Black femininity in global, 
transnational, and/or diasporic contexts.

• Explore considerably under-theorized intersections of Black femininity such as 
race, gender, and age; race, gender, religion, and nationality; race, gender, and 
ability; etc.

• Explore considerably under-theorized topics in the realm of BFT including but not 
limited to: conservative and/or Republican Black female rhetoric; new media and 
digital technology; progressive alliances within the Black community; parenthood 
and parenting; coalitional praxis between Black women and other collectives of 
women of color; linkages between BFT, womanism, Chicana feminisms, Arab 
feminisms, African feminisms, etc.; กฐpost-กฑ identity politics; ideological and 
discursive emphasis on Black masculinity at the expense of Black femininity; 
sexist, patriarchal, and misogynistic erasure of Black females espoused by Black 
males; etc.

Faculty and graduate students are welcome to submit manuscripts. The deadline 
for submissions is Friday July 3, 2015. All authors should conform to the Chicago 
Manual of Style, 16th ed. (2010), identify their essay as a กฐBFT Special Issue 
Submission,กฑ and submit manuscripts electronically via ScholarOne: 
https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ucpress-departures

Manuscripts should be prepared in MS Word (a PC-compatible version) using 12-
point Times New Roman font, should be double-spaced, and should not exceed 
9,000 words including notes. Manuscript title pages should be submitted as a 
separate file and include: (1) the title of the essay, (2) any acknowledgments, 
including the history of the manuscript if any part of it has been presented at a 
conference or included as part of a thesis or dissertation, and (3) author bio(s) of 
not more than 100 words each. Manuscripts should include: (1) the title of the 
essay, (2) an abstract of not more than 100 words, (3) a list of five suggested 
keywords, and (4) an accurate word count (including notes). Images, figures, and 
other ancillary materials should be submitted as separate files and conform to the 
Departures instructions for file size and format (see below).

Authors of accepted manuscripts will be responsible for clearing the necessary 
reproduction rights for any images, photos, figures, music, or content credited to a 
third party (including content found on the Internet), that fall outside of the fair 
use provisions described in US copyright law. Authors of accepted manuscripts will 
be asked to provide separate image and grayscale TIF files at a minimum 
resolution of 300 dpi, line art should be submitted as Illustrator EPS files at a 
resolution of 600 to 1200 dpi and in bitmap mode. Please do not embed images or 
grayscale or line art in Word files. Essays will be reviewed by a Special Issue 
Editorial Board and should not be under review by any other publication venue. To 
inquire about this special issue, please contact:

Rachel Alicia Griffin, PhD Associate Professor Department of Communication 
Studies Women, Gender and Sexuality Studiesกชcross-appointed Africana 
Studiesกชcross-appointed Southern Illinois University Communications Building 
2205 1100 Lincoln Drive, Mailcode 6605 Carbondale, IL 62901 [log in to unmask]

I apologize for cross postings.  

Thanks, 
Jeanine

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