Mothering While Black

Dawn Marie Dow

Published by University of California Press 2019

Mothering While Black

Boundaries and Burdens of Middle-Class Parenthood

Dawn Marie Dow

https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520971776

Overview
Contents

About this book

Mothering While Black examines the complex lives of the African American middle class—in particular, black mothers and the strategies they use to raise their children to maintain class status while simultaneously defining and protecting their children’s “authentically black” identities. Sociologist Dawn Marie Dow shows how the frameworks typically used to research middle-class families focus on white mothers’ experiences, inadequately capturing the experiences of African American middle- and upper-middle-class mothers. These limitations become apparent when Dow considers how these mothers apply different parenting strategies for black boys and for black girls, and how they navigate different expectations about breadwinning and childrearing from the African American community. At the intersection of race, ethnicity, gender, work, family, and culture, Mothering While Black sheds light on the exclusion of African American middle-class mothers from the dominant cultural experience of middle-class motherhood. In doing so, it reveals the painful truth of the decisions that black mothers must make to ensure the safety, well-being, and future prospects of their children.

Author information

Dow Dawn Marie :

Dawn Marie Dow is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park, and Faculty Associate at the Maryland Population Research Center.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Illustrations and Tables Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I. Cultivating Consciousness
1. Creating Racial Safety and Comfort Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
2. Border Crossers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
3. Border Policers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	76
4. Border Transcenders Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
Part II. Beyond Separate Spheres and the Cult of Domesticity
5. The Market-Family Matrix Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
6. Racial Histories of Family and Work Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
7. Alternative Configurations of Child-Rearing Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164
Conclusion and Implications Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
Appendix: Methods Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243