From Crack Mother To Wildflower: Writing to Transgress: the Sankofa Writing Method

"From Crack Mother to Wildflower, Writing to Transgress: The Sankofa Writing Method" is an intergenerational narrative that explores the pivotal role of Black women-centered networks, family, spirituality, and kinship care, alongside the devastation experienced by Black women who were victims of the crack cocaine epidemic and genocide during the 1980s and 1990s in the United States. Through the lens of Blackgirlhood and womanhood, Hardaway aims to historicize this era from the perspective of the children who were among the first to witness their parents' struggles with crack cocaine addiction. Hardaway exposes and names the violence endured by Black women during the U.S. crack cocaine epidemic and genocide, deconstructing the racist media hysteria that created the mythical moral panic around the 'Bad Black Crack Mother' and 'Crack Baby' stereotypes. She examines how these harmful and racist stereotypes emerged in the U.S., perpetuating harmful associations used to justify the violence and control of Black bodies through criminal and reproductive oppression. She provocatively engages with scholarship that amplifies marginal truths, charting new paths for bridging theory and practice as tools of resistance within qualitative research. Hardaway theorizes about Endarkened Afrofuturist Feminism, a framework blending Afrofuturism with endarkened feminist epistemologies, and uses Shapeshiftingas a metaphor for the transformative power of reclaiming one's narrative. This concept reflects the ability to adapt, survive, and thrive despite systemic oppression. Through Black feminist/womanist storytelling and critical autoethnography, Hardaway weaves together childhood memories as a self-healing literary practice to (re)imagine counter-futures for her mother, one Black woman who was systemically disposed of, by writing and imagining her free! Hardaway introduces The Sankofa Writing Method, a Black speculative and Afrofuturist writing methodology, to recover and reimagine her mother’s future, envisioning her as a 'Wildflower'– a symbol of a free and liberated spirit. Inspired by Black women literary scholars such as bell hooks, Toni Morrison, Octavia E. Butler, and Alice Walker, Hardaway demonstrates how writing and storytelling can serve as tools of resistance and restoration for Black women by reclaiming the voices of their mothers, daughters, and sisters. Hardaway offers readers a blueprint for how we can unravel the roots of our shame so that we can learn to remember, recover, and move forward in our own healing journeys.
ASIN: B0DD5F82XJ
VSKU: BVV.B0DD5F82XJ.G
Condition: Good
Author/Artist:Hardaway Ph.D., Ayana T.
Binding: Paperback
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: The item shows wear from consistent use, but it remains in good condition and works perfectly. All pages and cover are intact including the dust cover, if applicable . Spine may show signs of wear. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting. May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.