Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment

Eurocentrism is an ideology that treats Europe as the center of both geography and history and that prioritizes the ideas and experiences of white people, thus marginalizing people of color. For Collins, the term is synonymous with racism and white supremacy.

Hegemony is the dominance of one group or ideology over all others. For Collins, the US is characterized by the hegemony of whiteness. Black feminist thought is a necessary form of resistance to this hegemony.

The term ideology refers to ideas that reflect the interests of particular social groups. Collins writes about the dominant ideology, that is the intersectional ideology of white supremacy, heterosexism, and classism, as well as Black women’s responses to this ideology.

Developed by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, intersectionality is a system of analysis for understanding how people’s social identities, such as race, gender, class, sexuality, age, and nationality result in varying combinations of privilege and discrimination. Collins examines the ways in which intersecting categories not only shape Black women’s experiences but are also shaped by Black women.

The term oppositional knowledge refers to a type of knowledge created for, by, or in defense of an oppressed group. The oppositional knowledge of Black women has fostered self-definition and self-determination.

Racial color-blindness is a racial ideology that claims to end racial discrimination by treating individuals equally. However, racial color-blindness suppresses discussions of race and racism, thus perpetuating racial inequality.