Too heavy a yoke
Subtitle: Black women and the burden of strength
By: Chanequa Walker-Barnes
Publisher: Cascade Books
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 221
ISBN-13: 9781620320662
Subjects: Religion; Health and hygiene; Psychology; African American women
Description: Black women are strong. At least that's what everyone says and how they are constantly depicted. But what, exactly, does this strength entail? And what price do Black women pay for it? In this book, the author, a psychologist and pastoral theologian, examines the burdensome yoke that the ideology of the Strong Black Woman places upon African American women. She demonstrates how the three core features of the ideology--emotional strength, caregiving, and independence--constrain the lives of African American women and predispose them to physical and emotional health problems, including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and anxiety. She traces the historical, social, and theological influences that resulted in the evolution and maintenance of the Strong Black Woman, including the Christian church, R & B and hip-hop artists, and popular television and film. Drawing upon womanist pastoral theology and twelve-step philosophy, she calls upon pastoral caregivers to aid in the healing of African American women's identities.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages199-207) and indexes.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: The personal is pastoral; title: This thing called strength: a portrait of the StrongBlackWoman; title: Too heavy a yoke: the pain of the StrongBlackWoman; title: "To carry your burden in the heat of the day": racism, sexism, and the making of the StrongBlackWoman; title: Pride and prejudice: societal reactions to the StrongBlackWoman; title: Must Black women bear the yoke alone? : the church and the StrongBlackWoman; title: "For my yoke is easy": liberating Black women from the burden of strength; title: Appendix: The StrongBlackWoman's twelve-step recovery program.