Patricia Hill Collins

## Biography:

Patricia Hill Collins was born May 1st, 1948 to Eunice Randolph Hill and Albert Hill. She was educated in Philadelphia, a northern city public that allowed for social mobility, an unwavering challenge for black women at this time.

She went on to go to Brandeis University and received her BA in sociology in 1969. During her time at Brandeis, she was heavily involved in Boston's Black Community. After graduating, she secured a MAT in Social Science Education at Harvard. During the time she was teaching, she was very involved in curriculum development. She married her husband, Roger Collins in 1977 and gave birth to her daughter Valerie in 1979. In 1980 she returned to Brandeis to pursue her doctorate in Sociology. At this time, she was a minority fellow of the American Sociological Association and was also the Sydney Spivack Dissertation Support Award recipient.

Collins went on to teach at the University of Cincinnati. Here is where he began linking Women's Studies and sociology.

In 2005, Patricia Hill Collins began teaching as a distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland- College Park. She is educating students on various topics such as feminist theory, sociological theory, and race.

## *Black Feminist Thought*:

In 1990, Patricia Hill Collins published her book, *Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment*. The book aims to highlight the thoughts, philosophies, theories, and knowledge of black intellectuals, whose work is commonly overlooked. The book sheds light on the intellectual work done by women who are impacted heavily by their gender and race. The book provides an outlook unlike anything before it, a collective overview of black feminist thought.

The ideas in *Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment* were representations of the black feminist standpoint created by black women, for black women. This is one of the ideas Collins presents in her book. That black feminist thought can only be black feminist thought if and only if it is created by black women, for black women. Furthermore, this point assumes that Black Women have a unique standpoint and perspective and these experiences are common among all black women. Another point in Black Feminist Thought is that while black women share common experiences as they are all black, there are distinct differences in the way these commonalities can show up in black womanhood due to diversity within the community whether that is class, religion, or sexual orientation. Thus, this makes it necessary for black writers and intellectuals to write material that is specific in its standpoint of the black woman and is diverse to demonstrate all variations of the experience.

The book takes a big focus on "self-definition, self-valuation, and the necessity for a Black female-centered analysis". The book offers the idea that this will be an aid in resisting the "dehumanization of systems of domination".

## The Matrix of Domination

In the chapter ‘*Black Feminist Thought in the Matrix of Domination*’ from her book *Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment*, Collins details Black Feminist Thought and viewpoints on intersectionality. This chapter theorized ideas that would be used for years to come, and was monumental in its ability to make sense of interlocking systems of oppression. She argues that black feminist thought "fosters a fundamental paradigmatic shift in how we think about oppression. By embracing a paradigm of race, class, and gender as interlocking systems of oppression, Black feminist thought reconceptualizes the social relations of domination and resistance". Not only does Collins describe the power in educating the oppressed but she places an emphasis on all understanding the importance of looking at systems of oppression as interlocking systems rather than hierarchy systems which only contribute and manifest further the idea of "oppression Olympics". She notes the importance of a change in the way oppression is viewed as it promotes inclusive conversations about oppression such as age, race, and sexual orientation. Understanding the point provided, and the idea that "an individual may be an oppressor, a member of an oppressed group, or simultaneously oppressor and oppressed" can help make sense of feminism and the reasons that it has become divided.

## All Publications:

* Black Feminist Thought (1990)
* Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice (1998)
* Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism (2004)
* From Black Power to Hip Hop (2006)
* Another Kind of Public Education: Race, Schools, the Media, and Democratic Possibilities (2009)
* On Intellectual Activism (2012)
* Intersectionality (2016)

## Sources:

* https://uniteyouthdublin.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/black-feminist-though-by-patricia-hill-collins.pdf (Black Feminist Thought scanned pdf)
* http://www.asanet.org/about-asa/asa-story/asa-history/past-asa-officers/past-asa-presidents/patricia-hill-collins
* https://www.d.umn.edu/~bmork/2306/2111/collinpatricia.htm
* https://mindthegapuk.wordpress.com/2008/02/15/feminism-101-patricia-hill-collins-black-feminist-thought-in-the-matrix-of-domination/
* https://justsociet.wordpress.com/2007/01/30/black-feminist-thought-in-the-matrix-of-domination/
* https://muse.jhu.edu/article/220607/summary