Kara Walker, winner of the MacArthur “Genius” award and the Smithsonian Lucelia award, is one of the most critically acclaimed contemporary African American artists. Her work, especially her cut-paper silhouettes depicting grotesque antebellum scenes, has inspired as much outrage from an older generation of Black artists as acclaim from the mainstream media. This thesis gives an overview of the artist’s life, analysis of some of her works, and an examination of the controversy her work has caused. In the conclusion, I introduce the next generation of Black American artists, self-proclaimed “Art Stars,” including Atlanta artist Fahamu Pecou.

Previous research on grandparents as kinship care providers demonstrated that grandparents are confronted with both challenges and rewards. Using qualitative research methods, I examined the lives of 35 black aunts who served as kinship care providers for nieces and nephews. I found that grandparents and aunts experienced increased time demands, financial burdens, and family stress. However, this study demonstrated that aunts’ experiences differ from grandparents’, due to the younger age of aunts and the fact that aunts are of the same generation as the biological parents. Moreover, I found that aunting, or the care and nurture of children by aunts and great-aunts, is gendered and invisible work that, at the most basic level, salvages children’s lives. Salvaging children’s lives involved three non-linear stages: making the decision to become a kinship care provider, transitioning from aunting to parenting, and parenting nieces and nephews. I utilized a synthesis of symbolic interactionism and black feminist thought as a theoretical framework that examines how the meanings that black women attach to family influence their definitions of self and affect their decisions to act on behalf of family members. These findings extend the research on black women’s lives and on kinship care within black families. I used a narrative style that allows the respondents’ voices to be heard, as these are their stories. I offer suggestions for future research, as well as outline a number of policy and theoretical implications. This research is important because black children are disproportionately represented within the child welfare system. If interventions and policies are to influence other black women or black men to accept responsibility for many of the most at-risk children in their families and neighborhoods, research must explore and report the challenges, sacrifices, costs, and rewards of becoming kinship care providers within black families.

The purpose of the current study was to explore the relation between a culture specific theory of resiliency (TRIOS: Time, Rhythm, Improvisation, Oratory & Spirituality) and sexual health outcomes (Sexual Risk History, HIV Testing & Attitudes and Beliefs, Partner Information & Condom Self-Efficacy) among Black women. Participants were 124 Black women recruited from a larger sexual health intervention study. TRIOS was hypothesized to be correlated with outcomes and predict unique variance in outcomes beyond measures of Self-Esteem & Racial Identity. Time, Improvisation and Spirituality were hypothesized to uniquely predict limited sexual risk history, healthy HIV testing attitudes and beliefs, fewer risk indicators among sex partners, & higher condom self efficacy. The psychometric structure of TRIOS within the sample was examined. Tests included a Correlation Matrix, two sets of four Hierarchical Regressions and an Exploratory Factor Analysis. Correlations were found between TRIOS components and Sexual Risk History and Condom Self-Efficacy. Time and Improvisation uniquely predicted declines in Risky Sexual History. Rhythm uniquely predicted declines in Condom Self-Efficacy. Effects of Oratory were mixed. Methodological limitations and implications for interventions and future research were discussed.

In this qualitative study, I examine the persistent trend of black women as an excluded relationship partner for white men. Integral to understanding the exclusion of black women as relationship partners is the construction of black female bodies, by influential white men historically and contemporarily, as the abject opposite of hegemonic femininity, which holds "middle-class, heterosexual, [w]hite femininity" as the norm (Collins 2005:193). This construction essentially places black women outside the bounds of hegemonic femininity, beauty, sexuality, and womanhood. Using the theoretical concept deep frame, which is the "conceptual infrastructure of the mind" (Lakoff 2006a:12) and representative of one's commonsense world view, I argue that the ways in which influential white men have constructed black female bodies is a critical component of the raced, gendered, and classed deep frame of white men. This deep frame undergirds how many white men perceive, interpret, understand, emote, and engage in actions where black women are concerned. Hence in this study, I qualitatively examine, through analyzing and interpreting the in-depth online questionnaires of 134 white male respondents, how the deep frame of white men affects how they perceive black women and ultimately the relationships they seek with black women. The results of the study show that many white male respondents, despite most having very limited or no personal interactions with black women, viewed black women through the one-dimensional lens of the raced, gendered, and classed deep frame. Many respondents perceived black women as unattractive unless capable of a white normative standard, as possessing a negative "black" culture, and as possessing negative and "unfeminine" attributes that make them complicit in their own rejection. These findings show how the deep frame disciplines white men to view black women as "out of bounds" as legitimate relationship partners, and disciplines the types of relationships they seek with black women. The results of this study also reveal that the conceptual approach of deep frame rooted in an understanding of the power of influential white men to control and construct society provides a theoretical alternative to the outmoded interracial marriage theories of caste and exchange.

‘She Shall Not Be Moved’: Black Women’s Spiritual Practice in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Beloved, Paradise, and Home argues that from The Bluest Eye, Morrison’s debut novel, to her 2012 novel, Home, Morrison brings her female characters to voice, autonomy, and personal divinity through unconventional spiritual work. The project addresses the history of Black women’s activist and spiritual work, Toni Morrison’s engagement with unconventional spiritual practice, and closes with a personal interrogation of the author’s connection to Black women’s spiritual practice.

Reducing racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare are ongoing concerns. A paucity of data on healthcare seeking behavior among older Black women has hampered efforts to make culturally responsive healthcare services available to this population. Little is known about how older Black women's expectations and perceptions of care affect their patterns of health behavior.This study explored sociocultural contexts of health behavior with fifty Black women, aged 40 and older, in Tucson, Arizona by examining what prompts these women to seek services, identifying key factors affecting their access to and utilization of healthcare, documenting their experiences in healthcare settings and how these interactions influence their healthcare-seeking behavior. If effective healthcare service access and utilization are to be encouraged among older Black women, an informed understanding of the role cultural difference plays is essential.This research has three purposes: to provide a forum for discussion of culturally relevant strategies and models for prevention of disease and promotion of wellness in Black communities; to provide perspectives on older Black women's health issues for policymakers and administrators in public health sciences; and to gain insight and document reasons for selected health behaviors among this population. Research funding from the NIH/ NIA has helped to establish this small multi-disciplinary data set on a specific race, gender and age sub-population group for future research and development of community resource partnerships; including public health education and effective healthcare service delivery with intervention / promotion efforts targeting older Black women.Findings: Older Black women's poorer health status reflects the cumulative effects of inadequate health care due to various discriminatory experiences and their mistrust of the health care system. Mistrust, expectations of racial bias, perceived cultural insensitivity, and lack of effective communication within healthcare settings were found to be barriers to their healthcare-seeking behavior. Neither healthcare providers nor older Black women can address these issues alone. Working towards more trusting relationships within healthcare settings is critical in beginning to address avoidable inequities in health status experienced by older Black women.This research is applicable to such disciplines as Sociocultural/Medical Anthropology, Health Education, Public Health, and Africana/Ethnic Studies.

The prevalence of obesity has increased dramatically in the past decade. This foreshadows an increase in the rates of morbidity and mortality from obesity related diseases. The high prevalence of coronary heart disease (CHD) is a problem throughout the world as well as in South Africa The process of urbanisation of Africans from rural to urban areas is exposing the African population to Western lifestyles, with an increase in the incidence of CHD being reported. Research is more frequently proposing that obesity may be seen as a factor linking elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations and atherosclerosis. CRP is an acute phase reactant and a sensitive marker for acute and chronic inflammation of diverse causes. This poses the question of whether the increased risk of diabetes, CHD and many other chronic diseases in the obese might be explained by a state of chronic systemic inflammation. The purpose of this study was, therefore, firstly to determine whether there is an association between CRP concentrations and body composition in 19 to 60 year old black women. Partial Pearson correlations coefficients were used to determine associations between CRP and several body composition variables. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, percentage body fat and waist-hip-ratio (WHR) were all significantly correlated with CRP throughout the anthropometric spectrum. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) with a Games-Howell post hoc test was done to determine statistically significant differences among the different categories within each of the body composition variables. Significant differences (p < 0.05) were found within the categories of all the measured body composition variables, except for the various WHR categories. During a signal detection analysis, BMI was identified as the best predictor of increased CRP concentrations at a cut-off point of 27.68 kg/m2. The second purpose of this study was to assess the relationship of CRP to traditional cardiovascular risk factors in the study's population sample of 19 to 60 year old black women. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to analyse log-normalized CRP concentrations as the dependent variable in relation to several variables which form part of the traditional risk factors for CHD. All of the variables were significantly correlated with CRP at the level of p ≤ 0.05, except for total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. BMI, percentage body fat and fibrinogen levels were associated with InCRP at a practically significant level of r ≥ 0.5. BMI and fibrinogen were also found to be independently associated with InCRP with p ≤ 0.05 during a forward stepwise multiple linear regression analysis. Within this study's population sample, it was found that those women who presented with six traditional risk factors had a three to five-fold increase in CRF' concentrations compared to women with three or less risk factors. Further research is required to determine appropriate intervention programmes which could prevent or reduce the incidence of CHD among the obese by means of weight-loss, therefore, potentially lowering elevated CRP concentrations. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Human Movement Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

The pathways through which individuals learn to appraise and behave in intimate relationships greatly influence the quality and stability of their relationships. Research on intimate relationships among college students guided by a socialization framework focusing on learning and ways of viewing relationships is limited. The purpose of the present exploratory study was to examine the experiences and processes wherein young Black collegiate women learn to approach, maintain, and reflect on their intimate relationships. This topic is particularly salient to Black collegiate women who find themselves navigating unbalanced dating scenes and negotiating love relationships while balancing academic achievement and career aspirations. Ten Black, heterosexual women attending a four-year institution of higher education participated in three in-depth interviews where they shared life experiences which contributed to their understanding of intimate relationships. Using symbolic interactionism as a guiding framework allowed me to discover the multiple descriptions and meanings the participants assign to the interactions in their families, with their peers, and in their symbolic environments. The narratives shared by the women in this study revealed a number of experiences which prompted them to engage in self-reflection, critique, and learning with respect to self-identity and intimate relationships. Hearing messages, observing others, and experiencing relationships for themselves provided these women with a foundation for knowing the importance of preserving self-worth and self-identity, establishing expectations, and communicating thoughts and feelings. Implications for practice include the importance of developing specialized relationship education culturally and socially relevant to Black collegiate women, training campus professionals on the unique needs and concerns of this population, and educating parents on communicating with daughters about intimate relationship development. Future research should devote specific attention to social context, paternal-daughter relationship communication, and parental relationship modeling.

Uterine Fibroids, medically termed uterine leiomyoma, are benign tumors of smooth muscle cells that grow in the uterus. While they are the most common pelvic neoplasm in women and fewer than 1 percent of fibroids develop into cancer, uterine fibroids can cause infertility, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and greatly affect one’s quality of life. Black women have been disproportionately affected by fibroids; when compared to white women, Black women are: 2-3 times more likely to have fibroids, diagnosed at a younger age, more likely to have 7 or more fibroids, more likely to have more severe and more troublesome symptoms (anemia, severe pelvic pain, constipation, and stomach aches), and have twice as many hysterectomies due to fibroids. Black women’s disproportionate affliction with uterine fibroids is particularly concerning given the historical medical injustices associated with Black women’s bodies and reproductive rights from slavery to present day. By placing Black women at the center of analysis and using a Black feminist epistemological framework, this study aims to make a unique contribution to medical sociology as well as literature on the theoretical and practical management of sickness and wellness among Black women in the United States. Using qualitative interviews and grounded theory methodology, the study examined how Black women frame the condition of having uterine fibroids. Specifically, the study investigated a) how Black women conceptualize having fibroids, b) how Black women’s conceptualizations of fibroids affect their feelings about selves or their lifestyles, c) the mechanisms, if any, by which Black women deal with uterine fibroids, d) how their multiple race, class, and gender identities affect their illness experiences and types of treatment that they seek, and e) how conventional and complementary/alternative medicine shapes Black women’s experiences with fibroids. Conceptualizations about fibroids are rooted in the race-gendered histories of Black women and the unique stressors that they face. Through interactions with doctors and among peers, Black women resist the unbearable burden of uterine fibroids through various coping strategies, but generally “keep it moving”. They avoid invasive surgeries through patient agency by being advocates for their medical treatment, self-researching, dialoguing with others, and directing doctor-patient interactions.

The prevalence of obesity has increased dramatically in the past decade. This foreshadows an increase in the rates of morbidity and mortality from obesity related diseases. The high prevalence of coronary heart disease (CHD) is a problem throughout the world as well as in South Africa The process of urbanisation of Africans from rural to urban areas is exposing the African population to Western lifestyles, with an increase in the incidence of CHD being reported. Research is more frequently proposing that obesity may be seen as a factor linking elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations and atherosclerosis. CRP is an acute phase reactant and a sensitive marker for acute and chronic inflammation of diverse causes. This poses the question of whether the increased risk of diabetes, CHD and many other chronic diseases in the obese might be explained by a state of chronic systemic inflammation. The purpose of this study was, therefore, firstly to determine whether there is an association between CRP concentrations and body composition in 19 to 60 year old black women. Partial Pearson correlations coefficients were used to determine associations between CRP and several body composition variables. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, percentage body fat and waist-hip-ratio (WHR) were all significantly correlated with CRP throughout the anthropometric spectrum. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) with a Games-Howell post hoc test was done to determine statistically significant differences among the different categories within each of the body composition variables. Significant differences (p < 0.05) were found within the categories of all the measured body composition variables, except for the various WHR categories. During a signal detection analysis, BMI was identified as the best predictor of increased CRP concentrations at a cut-off point of 27.68 kg/m2. The second purpose of this study was to assess the relationship of CRP to traditional cardiovascular risk factors in the study's population sample of 19 to 60 year old black women. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to analyse log-normalized CRP concentrations as the dependent variable in relation to several variables which form part of the traditional risk factors for CHD. All of the variables were significantly correlated with CRP at the level of p ≤ 0.05, except for total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. BMI, percentage body fat and fibrinogen levels were associated with InCRP at a practically significant level of r ≥ 0.5. BMI and fibrinogen were also found to be independently associated with InCRP with p ≤ 0.05 during a forward stepwise multiple linear regression analysis. Within this study's population sample, it was found that those women who presented with six traditional risk factors had a three to five-fold increase in CRF' concentrations compared to women with three or less risk factors. Further research is required to determine appropriate intervention programmes which could prevent or reduce the incidence of CHD among the obese by means of weight-loss, therefore, potentially lowering elevated CRP concentrations. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Human Movement Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.