Womanist AIDS Activism in the United States

Womanist AIDS Activism in the United States: "It's Who We Are" is an in-depth exploration of AIDS advocacy work among Black women. HIV/AIDS has had a disproportionate impact on Black women. In addition to high infection and mortality rates, they are likely to be responsible for the caretaking of family, friends, and community members with HIV. Angelique Harris and Omar Mushtaq conducted interviews with 36 activists from across the nation to examine the ways in which race, gender, and identity influence the motivations and approaches behind their work. The authors use womanism – an epistemological framework that centers the world views of women of color – to better situate this activism within a larger sociocultural and historical context. They also argue that womanism better encapsulates the experiences of Black women than feminism or Black feminism. The authors provide an in-depth analysis of womanism and propose how it can be applied more broadly in examinations of community engagement among women of color, specifically Black women.