Patricia Hill Collins
Encyclopedia
Patricia Hill Collins, (born May 1, 1948) is Distinguished University Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park
, former head of the Department of African American Studies
at the University of Cincinnati
and past President of the American Sociological Association
Council. She came to national attention for her book Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment, originally published in 1990.
in 1948. The daughter of a factory worker and a secretary, Collins attended the Philadelphia public schools. After obtaining her bachelor's degree from Brandeis University
in 1969, she earned a master of arts degree in teaching from Harvard University
in 1970. Between 1970 and 1976, she was a teacher and curriculum specialist at St Joseph Community School, as well at two other community schools in Boston, Mass. She was Director of the Africana Center at Tufts University
between 1976 and 1980 before completing her doctorate in sociology at Brandeis in 1984. She is married to Roger L. Collins, a professor of education at the University of Cincinnati, and has one daughter, Valerie L. Collins. In 1990, her first book, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment, was published. A revised tenth anniversary edition of the book was published in 2000 and it was translated into Korean in 2009.
, Alice Walker
and Audre Lorde
. Collins made three central claims in this book:
Collins was the recipient of the C. Wright Mills Award in 1990. She was awarded the Jessie Bernard Award
in 1993 for Black Feminist Thought. The book was gradually added to the reading lists of gender studies, sociology and ethnic studies courses throughout the US. Recognized as a social theorist who draws from many intellectual traditions, Collins's over 40 articles and essays have been published in a wide range of fields, including philosophy, history, psychology as well as sociology. She was appointed as Professor of African American Studies at the University of Cincinnati in 1993.
Race, Class and Gender: An Anthology edited with Margaret Andersen first published in 1992 is widely used in over 200 colleges and universities. The book is widely recognized for shaping the field of race, class and gender studies as well as its related concept of intersectionality. The sixth edition was published in 2007.
The University of Cincinnati named Collins the Charles Phelps Taft Professor of Sociology in 1996, the first African American and second woman to hold this position. She received Emeritus status in the Spring of 2005 and became professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Collins published a third book Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice in 1998. Fighting Words focused against discrimination against women in black communities and the role of black women as "outsiders within". Black Sexual Politics, published in 2004, argued that racism and heterosexism were intertwined and won the Distinguished Publication Award from the American Sociological Association. In 2006 she published From Black Power to Hip Hop : Racism, Nationalism, and Feminism, which examines the relationship between black nationalism
, feminism and women in the hip-hop generation.
Her most recent books include Another Kind of Public Education: Race, Schools, the Media and Democratic Possibilities published in 2009 and The Handbook of Race and Ethnic Studies published in 2010.
The University of Maryland named Collins a Distinguished University Professor in 2006.
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
, former head of the Department of African American Studies
African American studies
African American studies is a subset of Black studies or Africana studies. It is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of the history, culture, and politics of African Americans...
at the University of Cincinnati
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati is a comprehensive public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a part of the University System of Ohio....
and past President of the American Sociological Association
American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Association , founded in 1905 as the American Sociological Society , is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology by serving sociologists in their work and promoting their contributions to serve society.The ASA holds its...
Council. She came to national attention for her book Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment, originally published in 1990.
Early career
Collins was born in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
in 1948. The daughter of a factory worker and a secretary, Collins attended the Philadelphia public schools. After obtaining her bachelor's degree from Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
in 1969, she earned a master of arts degree in teaching from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1970. Between 1970 and 1976, she was a teacher and curriculum specialist at St Joseph Community School, as well at two other community schools in Boston, Mass. She was Director of the Africana Center at Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
between 1976 and 1980 before completing her doctorate in sociology at Brandeis in 1984. She is married to Roger L. Collins, a professor of education at the University of Cincinnati, and has one daughter, Valerie L. Collins. In 1990, her first book, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment, was published. A revised tenth anniversary edition of the book was published in 2000 and it was translated into Korean in 2009.
Sociology Professor and Published Author
Collins became an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati in 1982. In 1990, she published Black Feminist Thought which used a wide range of sources including fiction, poetry, music and oral history to look at Black feminist thought by such figures as Angela DavisAngela Davis
Angela Davis is an American political activist, scholar, and author. Davis was most politically active during the late 1960s through the 1970s and was associated with the Communist Party USA, the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panther Party...
, Alice Walker
Alice Walker
Alice Malsenior Walker is an American author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender...
and Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde was a Caribbean-American writer, poet and activist.-Life:...
. Collins made three central claims in this book:
- Oppressions of race, class, gender, sexuality and nation are intersecting, mutually constructing systems of power. Collins coined the term "intersectionality" to refer to this simultaneous overlapping of multiple forms of oppression.
- Because Black women have unique histories at the intersections of systems of power, they have created world views out of a need for self-definition and to work on behalf of social justice.
- Black women's specific experiences with intersecting systems of oppression provide a window into these same processes for other individuals and social groups.
Collins was the recipient of the C. Wright Mills Award in 1990. She was awarded the Jessie Bernard Award
Jessie Bernard Award
The Jessie Bernard Award is given by the American Sociological Association in recognition of scholarly work that has enlarged the horizons of sociology to encompass fully the role of women in society. The contribution may be in empirical research, theory or methodology...
in 1993 for Black Feminist Thought. The book was gradually added to the reading lists of gender studies, sociology and ethnic studies courses throughout the US. Recognized as a social theorist who draws from many intellectual traditions, Collins's over 40 articles and essays have been published in a wide range of fields, including philosophy, history, psychology as well as sociology. She was appointed as Professor of African American Studies at the University of Cincinnati in 1993.
Race, Class and Gender: An Anthology edited with Margaret Andersen first published in 1992 is widely used in over 200 colleges and universities. The book is widely recognized for shaping the field of race, class and gender studies as well as its related concept of intersectionality. The sixth edition was published in 2007.
The University of Cincinnati named Collins the Charles Phelps Taft Professor of Sociology in 1996, the first African American and second woman to hold this position. She received Emeritus status in the Spring of 2005 and became professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Collins published a third book Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice in 1998. Fighting Words focused against discrimination against women in black communities and the role of black women as "outsiders within". Black Sexual Politics, published in 2004, argued that racism and heterosexism were intertwined and won the Distinguished Publication Award from the American Sociological Association. In 2006 she published From Black Power to Hip Hop : Racism, Nationalism, and Feminism, which examines the relationship between black nationalism
Black nationalism
Black nationalism advocates a racial definition of indigenous national identity, as opposed to multiculturalism. There are different indigenous nationalist philosophies but the principles of all African nationalist ideologies are unity, and self-determination or independence from European society...
, feminism and women in the hip-hop generation.
Her most recent books include Another Kind of Public Education: Race, Schools, the Media and Democratic Possibilities published in 2009 and The Handbook of Race and Ethnic Studies published in 2010.
The University of Maryland named Collins a Distinguished University Professor in 2006.
Selected bibliography
- Another Kind of Public Education: Race, the Media, Schools, and Democratic Possibilities, ISBN 0-8070-0018-3, 2009
- From Black Power to Hip Hop: Racism, Nationalism, and FeminismFrom Black Power to Hip Hop: Racism, Nationalism, and FeminismFrom Black Power to Hip-Hop: Racism, Nationalism, and Feminism is the title of a non-fiction book written by Patricia Hill Collins. Published in 2006 by Temple University Press, the book analyzes issues as diverse as family planning, Afrocentrism, and the role of African-American women in the...
, ISBN 1-59213-092-5, 2006 - Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New RacismBlack Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New RacismBlack Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender and the New Racism by Patricia Hill Collins is a work of critical theory that discusses the way that race, class and gender intersect to affect the lives of African American men and women in many different ways, but with similar results...
, ISBN 0-415-93099-5, 2005 - Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice, ISBN 0-8166-2377-5, 1998
- Race, Class and Gender: An Anthology, ISBN 0-534-52879-1, co-edited w/ Margaret Andersen, 1992, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010
- Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment, ISBN 0-415-92484-7, 1990, 2000
See also
- Black feminismBlack feminismBlack feminism argues that sexism, class oppression, and racism are inextricably bound together. Forms of feminism that strive to overcome sexism and class oppression. The Combahee River Collective argued in 1974 that the liberation of black women entails freedom for all people, since it would...
- SociologySociologySociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
- FeminismFeminismFeminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
- List of African American philosophers
External references
Written references
- Gale Group, Contemporary Authors Online 2001 article on Patricia Hill Collins published on Biography Resource Centre 2005
- Feminist Authors St James Press 1996 article on Patricia Hill Collins Reproduced on Biography Resource Centre 2005
- "Patricia Hill Collins" World of Sociology 2 volumes Gale Group 2001 Reproduced on Biography Resource Centre 2005
- "Patricia Hill Collins" Directory of American Scholars 10th Edition Gale Group 2001
- "Dr Patricia Hill Collins Who's Who Among African-Americans 18th Edition Gale Group 2005
- Tonya Bolden, "Review of Black Feminist Thought" in Black Enterprise July 1992 v22 n12 page 12(1)
- Tamala M Edwards, "The F Word", Essence May 1999 volume 30 issue 1 page 90
- Katherine C. Adams review of Black Sexual Politics Library Journal April 1, 2004 v129 i6 page 111