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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Book Review :: SISTAH VEGAN: Black Female Vegans Speak on Food, Identity, Health, and Society

Leave it to a Black woman to exercise a critical view and ignite a theory of racialized colonialist thinking through the critique of mainstream vegan practices -- and you take your time reading all of it, absorbing each chapter, of course! SISTAH VEGAN: BLACK FEMALE VEGANS SPEAK ON FOOD, IDENTITY, HEALTH, AND SOCIETY, is a book edited by A. Breeze Harper, a PhD Candidate at the University of California, Davis, and is a collection of chapters, all written by Black-identified, female vegans. It is the very first text ever dealing with Black women and vegan food practices.

SISTAH VEGAN was birthed to bring to the forefront Black females who are vegan in an area where they are often placed in the margins, and images, theory, reasons, and practices of members of the vegan world are seen to consist mostly of whites participants. SISTAH VEGAN sends a clear message that in spite of the mainstream display that is  infused with whiteness, not only do Black female vegans exist, but they are here to voice their concerns and advocacy about their food choices, their health and the health of their community, animal rights, practicing veganism in religious settings, practicing veganism as activism and resistance, and  various other areas they find worth confronting.

SISTAH VEGAN is an anthology -- a text with various contributors, and each chapter introduces a Black female vegan, her view on veganism, as well as her entry point.



As someone who adopted a vegetarian lifestyle at age 16, which lasted almost a decade -- one of those years, a vegan, I can't tell you how excited I was to receive this text. For one, I live to read Black feminist theory and other literary works, and have found myself, and many of my life experiences on the pages of works just like these and knew I would be able to relate to some of the stories. But I also know that since those years, my views on vegetarianism, veganism, and our place in the food chain, and my views on society have changed, and my reasons as someone who is now 35, a Black feminist, and a cultural anthropologist are, of course, different. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about this text -- as far as its theory at this time, and I waited some time before completing this review to see if I could come to some kind of conclusive stance. I haven't. But there are some points that I have highlighted -- things I felt could have been expounded upon, and areas that, in my opinion, were missing, and other reasons why I believe SISTAH VEGAN is a book worth reading.

Even though SISTAH VEGAN was not a book geared towards recruiting all of its readers to adopt a vegan lifestyle, the fact that all of the contributors are vegan sets the stage and of course gives us the idea that veganism is key. Though many of the sistahs in SISTAH VEGAN practice the lifestyle as a form of activism in one way or another, and shared the belief of how food choice and animal treatment is linked to areas of racism and human oppression, I would have liked to see more ways to confront structural oppression in food practices where those who occupy lower socio-economic statuses would have access to, or to hear more ways of bringing these issues to the forefront. However, what I felt a real weakness of this text was it seemed as if they spoke as if everyone has access to the same opportunities, information, and choices, and rarely mentioned inequality that plays a tremendous part in practicing a lifestyle that they so fervently believe in. Though the editor briefly acknowledged that everyone may not have the ability to practice veganism, and suggested each of us contribute what we can in this role of resistance in her chapter titled "Social Justice Beliefs and Addiction To Uncompassionate Consumption," it was not an underlying message throughout this text, and to link food choices to colonialism, in my opinion, should have acknowledged this inequality that has been geared towards Black and Communities Of Color -- those who have experienced this the most.

Those who cannot afford  or who do not have access to a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle are the majority in a society where inequality looms and people of color have continuously held marginalized positions and have never had equal access to innumerable opportunities. For these reasons, I'm not sure how we expect many groups to pay higher prices for foods that are said to be seen as healthier when many cannot afford a healthy and balanced diet regardless, or see the vegan lifestyle as filling, and I'll use myself as an example. I am educated in the way a capitalist society values a commodified, formalized education -- I have a couple of degrees. And before too long I'll have a couple more. I plan on finishing off my education with a PhD. For now, the education I currently have many people go their entire lives wishing they had since it is something that is supposedly supposed to thrust someone into the higher rungs. I don't have any children, and as my mother always used to tell me "When you eat, your whole family is fed!" I have always been conscious of the things I eat for the most part, and have always naturally gravitated towards healthier foods, but even with this status, I can hardly afford organic all the time (not that this makes food better, more socially, ethically, or environmentally sound and safe), fair trade, or to become a vegan. How much more difficult is this for the multitude of individuals, families and communities whose situations are far more complex?

Many of the stories talked about 'Soul Food' and its ramifications on Black health. However, I tend to look at this slightly differently. As we know, more recent public research -- and I emphasize the word public, since this knowledge has been something known among communities Of Color for generations, yet only when mainstream (white) practices began to acknowledge this is when it was seen worthy enough to garner attention. This knowledge and research shows the increasing effects of racism as a very large contributor to health disparities, accountable for heart attacks, strokes, miscarriages, low birth-weight babies, and innumerable other health disparities -- regardless of food choices, or simply because of being Black. Also, even with my very limited knowledge of pre-colonial food choices, I can't help but compare the messages in SISTAH VEGAN to other ideas on veganism, and to other societies on a global basis, and the way Western Society has regarded meat consumption and the way we dictate this. For example, many people consider certain animals and animal parts unclean and stigmatize others for their eating habits. However, in many cases this can be seen as ignorance at its best, or ethnocentric at its worst, since these same parts that we disregard as unclean and unsuitable for human consumption (the eyes, ears, intestines, etc. -- these so-called scraps), are exactly what other societies consume and use, making them healthier, and contributing to their longer life spans. I think of hunter-gatherer societies throughout history and how much more beneficial that was, or even in our current times other communities where meals are not stored in a refrigerator or freezer, but are consumed on an as-needed basis. I also think of how in the United States and Western societies, sadly enough and embarrassingly enough, too, we hunt on full stomachs. Or how the increasing population size has and continues to contribute to our sedentary lifestyles, and the tremendous role this plays in our food consumption.

I am not at all suggesting we not strive to obtain a greater level of consciousness in food choices -- why we eat the things we do and the methods of production, or that we not reexamine our level of compassion and thought towards non-human animals. Not at all. But I am suggesting that when confronting whiteness and white ideology, addictions to uncompassionate consumption, capitalism, when attempting to bring forth a greater level of awareness and forge a greater resistance -- especially in an area like food, which is seen as the crux of many societies, that consciousness in these areas must be viewed through a more holistic lens. To me, it would have been nice to read more about changing the foundation of an unjust system and the way we can contribute to a more equitable social structure and find a way to produce more moral and cultural understandings and appreciation in our eating habits and throughout overall society, rather than suggesting veganism as key, since simply banning or removing something hardly gets to the foundation of a problem, and often only paves a new avenue for oppressive behavior to mutate. Also, suggesting removal does not take into account those who do not participate and the numerous reasons for this stance, and in some cases can be seen as perpetuating the same types of behavior that excludes, ignores, and divides. But I somehow get the feeling had this not been an anthology, but a text written by a single author it may have gone a bit deeper, but that would mean we would have had a lack of multiple contributors, voices, and viewpoints, and that would also be unfortunate. 

I am so grateful to have read SISTAH VEGAN, and although it took a minute for the title to grow on me, I find myself saying it for no other reason than to just say 'Sistah Vegan!' I enjoyed it for the reasons that it addressed the need to center those considered marginalized and who are often relegated to the shadows, it was not monolithic and showed that there are very different reasons Black women experience and explore veganism, it addressed some of the issues of how many people perceive and stereotype vegans -- especially Black women and body types, it confronted whiteness front and center, and it also started me to thinking and allowed me to go back to a place that I had left, since I had been tossing around the idea of returning to vegetarianism over the past couple of years and made it official after reading this book in an attempt raise my consciousness around food choice as activism as much as possible -- maybe my view will change. And don't get me wrong, I absolutely believe in activism through food choices; I just believe in going a bit below the surface and addressing more issues that may or may not be linked to these areas. What are your thoughts?


In this video, editor A. Breeze Harper talks about the inception of the Sistah Vegan Project!

Click here for Part II

Edited by: A. Breeze Harper
Publisher: Lantern Books
Year: 2010
Paperback: 22.00
Genre: Vegetarianism/Feminism
Pages: 224
ISBN: 978-1590561454

Thank you, Lantern Books, for providing a copy of SISTAH VEGAN: Black Female Vegans Speak on Food, Identity, Health, and Society, for this review.

Note: All opinions are my own and honest, and I am not compensated by the publisher!


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Thursday, September 15, 2011

Constructed Saviour Or A Saving Grace: Black Women As Breastfeeding Subjects

I have to admit I was at least envious when I read this recent article on involving an anthropologist assisting with breastfeeding research. Jim McKenna is a professor of anthropology and director of Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory at the Univeristy of Notre Dame, and recently received an invitation to become part of a project focusing on the disproportionate amount of Black women who are not breastfeeding. I ran across the article last week titled McKenna Researches Breastfeeding. The university paper explained why this anthropology professor was asked to join in on a research project initiated by WIC (Women, Infants, Children), and the local hospital for the project "Health Disparities in St. Joseph County: Understanding Why Black Women Don't Breastfeed." McKenna will apparently take part in a series of focus groups to find out -- well, why there's such disparities in breastfeeding among Black women.

I'm all for Black women breastfeeding -- Hello, that's why I'm here. Actually, I'm all for any woman breastfeeding! And I don't want to portray any type of negative feelings towards this research, since I think it's such a great idea to involve anyone we can to help end these disparities. I also am in no way suggesting this project, or the efforts of WIC, St. Joseph's Hospital, or Dr. McKenna are not sincere, or that they have any intentions of wrongdoings. Not at all! But the white male researcher, Black women researched dynamic has me thinking.

There has been a history of research done on vulnerable populations, and especially those involving People Of Color -- even more specifically, there has been research done on Blacks that yielded very tragic outcomes. There is also the idea that misrepresentation in various settings  is one of the main causes for these disproportionate numbers of nursing Black woman, as we know if we look around in the different breastfeeding areas. There's also the idea of the white savior coming to save the day, which may hinder this research. These are just some of the things I thought of when reading about this project.

I have no doubt that Dr. McKenna is well qualified to conduct focus groups and to make a substantial contribution to this area of research. He also has snaps from me since he is an anthropologist -- not that I'm based or anything (wink). I firmly believe an anthropological approach is key not only in the area of breastfeeding but in many other areas of society, but I am just very curious to see who else will be on the panel and behind the scenes.

All in all I am happy to see the subject of breastfeeding among Black women make some kind of headlines, since it raises awareness. But I still believe my thoughts on this are valid, or maybe I'm thinking too much; it has happened once or twice, ya know.

Book Review + Giveaway :: Zora and Me (Closed)

Zora and Me, is written by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon, and is the fictional story of Zora Neale Hurston's life as a young girl growing up in her hometown of Eatonville, Florida. The story is narrated by Carrie, the best friend of young Zora.

Of the most amazing things about this text is that it was written by an anthropologist and creative writer -- who could not have made a better team introducing us to the childhood Zora, since the actual Zora was an anthropologist, literary writer, and folklorist. As readers, we imagine ourselves playing along and getting to know this young character so many have come to respect and adore.

Zora and Me takes adult admirers of Zora Neale Hurston to a place were we probably don't allow ourselves too often,  but it's ok, since reading about a child that so many admire as an adult is welcomed and encouraged. For those familiar with Zora, this work of fiction adds to our imaginative and fondness, as Zora's interests and culture are weaved into this text.  and for those not yet familiar, you can't walk away not wanting to know just who she was and continues to be.

Through her childhood relationships, imagination and curiosity, Zora's childhood-to-life reinforces our fondness of her, putting us in a place where we find ourselves imagining being along on these these adventures, at the Blue Sink, outings, and you could hear her Southern accent as the story was being told, but then you again realize this is a children's novel. a Zora many have probably never thought much about; one who skips rope, has a huge imagination,  Zora and Me displays a very realistic These authors as a right of passage, recognizing racial division. 

Of course you don't have to know who Zora Neale Hurston is to appreciate this book -- and I'm sure if Zora was around, she'd even appreciate it herself. I can only imagine the impact the real Zora Neale Hurston made on others around in her life even as a child. I think of the legacy she left, and how she continues to shape so many of us in different areas. I'm sure there's a reason this is the only text endorsed by the Hurston Estate.



I couldn't put this book down! I felt like a kid again being drawn in by the imagination of this child, and felt concerned with the things that concerned her. The story of Mr. Pendir being a gator was one of the funnest things I have ever read, and believe it or not, I still can't get the song from the jump rope scene out of my head:

"I saw Pendir with a gator snout
Looking his way 'bout wore me out
But mama's little child got good strong eyes
Mama's little girl don't tell no lies
Mama's little girl don't tell no lies"

I'm so happy I read this text, and it really gives me a greater sense of fondness towards Zora Neale Hurston, meaning even though I already know and admire Zora's work, reading a text that could potentially give us some history of her life as as a child and what shaped it is excellent. Also, a young, Black female protagonist. . .  it actualized the place of race in her young life -- where many Folks Of Color can relate. Many, many thanks for this, Victoria Bond and T.R. Somon! 



Publisher: Candlewick Press. Amherst, MA 
Year: 2010
Hardcover: 16.99
Pages: 192
Genre: Children's
ISBN: 978-0763643003

Thank you, Candlewick Press, for providing a copy of Zora and Me, for this review, and I have an additional copy for giveaway. At this time, this giveaway is open only to participants in the United States due to shipping issues.  Leave a comment on this post by next Tuesday and it will count as your entry. All names will be entered with a winner selected at random via random.org, and announced in next week's blog post. Leave your email address with your comment: yourname(at)emailserver{dot}com, net, etc. Winner please respond within three days or another will be selected. 


If you appreciate giveaways on the Lactation Journey Blog, please consider donating $1.00 USD, in order to help me offset the shipping & handling charges I incur to bring these to you. Thank you in advance for any consideration.

Note: All opinions are my own and honest, and I am not compensated by the publisher!

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Book Review + Giveaway :: Ladder to the Moon (Closed)

Ladder to the Moon is written by Maya Soetoro-Ng, who is President Barack Obama's sister, mother of Suhalia, and daughter of the late Stanley Anne Dunham, the last two who are both main figures in the text. Ladder to the Moon is a book a bout questions, answers, and also about closure.

Grandma Annie and Suhalia are "separated from each other by breath and years,"as Soetoro-Ng explains. Ladder to the Moon reflects the real-life situation of Maya Soetoro-Ng and a question that arises from young Suhalia: "What was Grandma Annie like?"

This book takes the reader on a poignant journey where emotion, comfort, and appreciation is wholly intertwined when Suhalia is visited by Grandma Annie through a dream, and is taken to places and shown the caring, comforting, and soothing figure that watches over her and others across the world. They look after others and through an appreciation that clearly reflects her afterlife, cultural tolerance, and cultural understanding. Grandma Annie's cross-cultural appreciation and cultural understandings, which was an influence in the lives of those around her, is clearly reflected in this text, that is also filled with love and adoration.

The story uses childhood curiosity to show that looking beyond traditional explanations sometimes offers the most unique and special way to celebrates life and to celebrate death. The story of Grandma Annie, who was an anthropologist in the physical, and whose love and respect for culture and humanity that was in this realm carried over to the next. Maya Soetory-Ng integrates the physical and the spiritual, allowing us to travel to places where only dreams can take us.


This is the first children's book that has ever made me cry. The tears began when grandma Annie first appeared before Suhalia and they didn't stop, not even after reading the conclusive piece at the end. Maya Soetero-Ng's mother was a cultural anthropologist, which itself makes me drawn to her story, and lately I have read a few articles about her life as a researcher, mother, and a young woman. I initially thought Ladder to the Moon was focused on her physical life, but the portrayal of her afterlife is an amazing display of comfort and consolation in this perfect dream.

When my mother passed away, I had that same feeling -- If I were to ever have children, I would come to the point of explaining to them this wonderful woman who was no longer with us, and longing for them to know her. To know of her. I also understand when children question this, and it touches me even more. I am so happy I had a chance to read this.



Maya Soetoro-Ng reads from Ladder to the Moon

Author: Maya Soetoro-Ng
Illustrated by: Yuyi Morales
Publisher: Candlewick Press, Sommerville, MA.
Year: 2011
Hardcover: 16.99
Pages: 48
Genre: Children's 
ISBN: 978-0-7636-4570-0

Thank you, Candlewick Press, for providing a copy of Ladder to the Moon, for this review, and I have an additional copy for giveaway. At this time, this giveaway is open only to participants in the United States due to shipping issues.  Leave a comment on this post by next Tuesday and it will count as your entry. All names will be entered with a winner selected at random via random.org, and announced in next week's blog post. Leave your email address with your comment: yourname(at)emailserver{dot}com, net, etc. Winner please respond within three days or another will be selected. 

If you appreciate giveaways on the Lactation Journey Blog, please consider donating $1.00 USD, in order to help me offset the shipping & handling charges I incur to bring these to you. Thank you in advance for any consideration.

Note: All opinions are my own and honest, and I am not compensated by the publisher!

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Book Review + Giveaway :: ANOTHER KIND OF PUBLIC EDUCATION: Race, Schools, the Media, and Democratic Possibliities (Closed)

What does democracy mean to you? Dr. Patricia Hill Collins uses her critical consciousness and sociological imagination to bring us another illuminating text. ANOTHER KIND OF PUBLIC EDUCATION: Race, Schools, the Media, and Democratic Possibilities, is Dr. Collins's most recent work, written in 2009, and  examines the meaning of democracy, and shows us the way education can have the greatest impact, and delivers this message with  her passion for teaching and over 30 years of education experience under her belt.

Patricia Hill Collins, unlike other texts she has written, was not reluctant to share some of her personal life stories and use first-person stances, as she opens with a story of  the oppressive behavior and silencing she experienced as a high school student when asked to deliver a speech on her views on the American flag. The story of how silencing is perpetuated was explained in the beginning chapter and of course in subsequent chapters, as she explores the way different domains work independently and dependently in exploiting the overarching power dynamic. 

Dr. Collins explained the way that lived experiences of the past and what we see today in an era of color-blind racism work within the structural, cultural, disciplinary, and interpersonal domains, and are ways that our society continues oppression and exclusion, and ties up the idea of democracy and fair practices. She examined the way social blackness and honorary whiteness play and discusses color-blind racism to show us that educational institutions are a place that most often hinder our individual and group ideas and advancement through the undemocratic and structural tactics that keep these in place -- places where we are often trained not to see it, while she emphasized through various forms of modern technology and critical analysis is a way to practice resistance in these same areas.

The way various system of oppression mutate is the way they are exposed and show in a way to allow the audience to have a thorough understanding of the way this works. Patricia Hill Collins let's each of us see that we can make outstanding changes to society in ways that are not far-fetched, but very tangible. ANOTHER KIND OF PUBLIC EDUCATION: Race, Schools, the Media, and Democratic Possibilities is a text that is a prize for anyone in any group.  



I have officially read every text written by Patricia Hill Collins, and just like Black Feminist Thought and  Black Sexual Politics, she has such a gift of being able to expose oppressive and silencing tactics that are too often hidden and overlooked, and every time I think I have something figured out, she writes another book. 

I've talked to professors before, since my heart's desire is to become a professor of anthropolgy, and have been told when I do get to that point be careful not to 'rock the boat' too much. When I think of that statement and what Dr. Collins says here, I can't imagine but comparing what things universities would consider 'rocking the boat' or upsetting people by speaking up or disagreeing and other areas -- like the teacher Dr. Collins experienced in high school, who thought young Patricia's honest feelings of the U.S. flag would cause anxiety, and to cover her tracks by making it seemed as if there were not problems at all. This book almost gives sort of a gonzo-like projection that almost allows us to be directly in the center, experiencing the details in order to see how change is possible. I really admire Dr. Collins's work, and I am so glad I read this.

You can watch Patricia Hill Collins speaking on C-Span about this text here

Publisher: Beacon Press 
Year: 2009
Paperback: 21.00
Genre: Education/Sociology
Pages: 236
ISBN: 978-0807000250

Thank you, Beacon Press, for providing a copy of ANOTHER KIND OF PUBLIC EDUCATION: Race, Schools, the Media, and Democratic Possibilitiesfor this review, and I have an additional copy for giveaway. At this time, this giveaway is open only to participants in the United States due to shipping issues.  Leave a comment on this post by next Tuesday and it will count as your entry. All names will be entered with a winner selected at random via random.org, and announced in next week's blog post. Leave your email address with your comment: yourname(at)emailserver{dot}com, net, etc. Winner please respond within three days or another will be selected. 

If you appreciate giveaways on the Lactation Journey Blog, please consider donating $1.00 USD, in order to help me offset the shipping & handling charges I incur to bring these to you. Thank you in advance for any consideration.

Note: All opinions are my own and honest, and I am not compensated by the publisher!

Trade Books for Free - PaperBack Swap.