The Neoliberal Politics of Black Women's Self-Help: Sisters, Suggestions, and Systems

黑人妇女自助的新自由主义政治：姐妹、建议和系统

• 批准号: 2901830
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: London School of Economics and Political Science
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2901830
• 关键词: Neoliberal; Politics; Black; Women; Self

My research investigates the politics of producing and consuming black women's self-help (BWSH) books in a period of deepening social crisis. We are currently witnessing an increase in self-help books written by black women for black women. These books contain (hyper-)positive messages and instructions allegedly designed to help black women cope with interlocking challenges of classism, sexism, and racism. They encourage black women to take charge of our lives, indulge in self-care practices, and better manage our finances and relationships. With limited author diversity in the self-help industry, the upsurge in BWSH books seems indicative of a progressive culture. Yet, given the highly commercial nature of the publishing industry and its role in speculative capitalism, it is important to turn a critical eye to this recent development and explore the driving forces behind it. More so, it is crucial to establish whether this self-help subgenre offers social value, especially in relation to black women's emancipation which has been a foremost agenda for black feminists. Paired with an ethnographic data collection process involving publishing professionals, BWSH authors and BWSH readers as key participants, my research draws on social theory and black feminist thought as theoretical lenses for measuring the alignment, if any, between BWSH books and black feminist sensibilities.I am particularly interested in uncovering the extent to which the production and consumption of BWSH books represent a site of both gendered labour and neoliberal subjectification in black women communities. By centring black women as subjects of capitalism, I analyse the roles of BWSH authors and BWSH readers in the labouring of self and femininity against a backdrop of neoliberal governance and capitalism. Scholars of postfeminism, such as Rosalind Gill and Angela McRobbie, argue that self-help content, targeting women especially, is a gendered 'technology of the self' - a term coined by Michel Foucault to explain systems of self-regulation whereby individuals impose certain behaviours or conditions upon themselves to transform themselves. By this logic, self-help books encourage a belabouring of the self to achieve goals or ideals. At the same time, the publishing industry relies on the labour of black women to write books that demand further labour from black women. Therefore, given the commodification of self-help and its embeddedness in a capitalist system, my research analyses BWSH books as a case study in which new techniques of racial capitalism manifest.As reflected in my project's subtitle, I plan to research BWSH books with three main themes in mind: sisterhood, suggestions, and systems. Precisely, I seek to explore how neoliberalism and racial capitalism (as systems) interact with the cultivation of black sisterhood via the sharing and receiving of self-help advice. I am, in other words, concerned with the social life of BWSH books and possible tensions between both the production and consumption of these books and their emancipatory potential. This research will generate new insights into (contemporary) black feminism, racial capitalism, and the global cultural economy.

我的研究调查了社会危机加深时期黑人女性自助（BWSH）书籍的制作和消费的政治因素。目前，我们看到黑人女性为黑人女性撰写的自助书籍有所增加。这些书包含（超）积极的信息和指示，据称旨在帮助黑人女性应对阶级主义、性别歧视和种族主义的相互关联的挑战。她们鼓励黑人女性掌控我们的生活，进行自我保健，并更好地管理我们的财务和人际关系。由于自助行业的作者多样性有限，BWSH 书籍的激增似乎表明了一种进步文化。然而，鉴于出版业的高度商业性及其在投机资本主义中的作用，对这一近期发展持批判的态度并探索其背后的驱动力非常重要。更重要的是，确定这种自助子流派是否提供社会价值至关重要，特别是与黑人妇女解放有关，这一直是黑人女权主义者的首要议程。与出版专业人士、BWSH 作者和 BWSH 读者作为主要参与者的民族志数据收集过程相结合，我的研究利用社会理论和黑人女权主义思想作为理论镜头来衡量 BWSH 书籍和黑人女权主义情感之间的一致性（如果有的话）。我特别感兴趣的是揭示 BWSH 书籍的生产和消费在多大程度上代表了黑人女性中性别劳动和新自由主义主体化的场所 社区。通过将黑人女性作为资本主义的主体，我分析了《BWSH》作者和《BWSH》读者在新自由主义治理和资本主义背景下的自我和女性气质劳动中的角色。罗莎琳德·吉尔（Rosalind Gill）和安吉拉·麦克罗比（Angela McRobbie）等后女权主义学者认为，自助内容，尤其是针对女性的自助内容，是一种性别化的“自我技术”——米歇尔·福柯创造这个术语，用于解释自我调节系统，个人通过这种系统将某些行为或条件强加于自己以改变自己。按照这种逻辑，自助书籍鼓励自我努力以实现目标或理想。与此同时，出版业依赖黑人女性的劳动力来撰写书籍，这需要黑人女性进一步的劳动力。因此，考虑到自助的商品化及其在资本主义体系中的嵌入，我的研究将 BWSH 书籍作为体现种族资本主义新技术的案例研究进行分析。正如我的项目副标题所反映的，我计划研究 BWSH 书籍的三个主题：姐妹情谊、建议和制度。准确地说，我试图探索新自由主义和种族资本主义（作为系统）如何通过分享和接受自助建议与黑人姐妹情谊的培养相互作用。换句话说，我关心《BWSH》书籍的社会生活，以及这些书籍的生产和消费及其解放潜力之间可能存在的紧张关系。这项研究将对（当代）黑人女权主义、种族资本主义和全球文化经济产生新的见解。