Redefining the Political

Redefining the Political documents the political life of a community of Black women living below the poverty line. Alex Moffett-Bateau spent a year interviewing residents of a public housing development on the far South Side of Chicago about their politics, political communities, and how they create collective power.

Moffett-Bateau uses radical Black feminist political theory and develops a framework called the political possible-self, which argues that belonging to a community and developing political imagination foment change. These women employ grassroots efforts to subvert oppressive power structures by protesting institutions within their communities, addressing the benign neglect of their housing development, organizing community art shows and meals, volunteering at local public schools, and holding meetings to increase the political confidence of public-housing tenants by educating them on navigating government bureaucracies.

Ultimately, Redefining the Political shows how political engagement at both the individual and community levels can be fruitful for nontraditional political contributions.

Reviews
“In Redefining the Political, Alex Moffett-Bateau centers the political work and imagining of poor Black women. Using an intersectional Black feminist approach, Moffett-Bateau explores the strategies poor Black women use to fight the oppressive systems that seek to define and limit them, their families, and their communities. Featuring interviews from residents in a public housing complex on the far south side of Chicago, Moffett-Bateau details the ways Black women mobilize what she labels their ‘political possible selves’ to build collective power. This is a must-read for all those interested in new frameworks and theories anchored in the political lives of Black women.”—Cathy J. Cohen, D. Gale Johnson Distinguished Service Professor and Inaugural Chair of the Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity at the University of Chicago, and author of The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics

“Redefining the Political l offers an analysis that addresses collective disenfranchisement within U.S. democracy. Building upon the author’s multiple interviews and engagement with south-side Chicago organizers, Moffett-Bateau prioritizes the experiential/theoretical contributions of Black women in under-resourced communities reshaping their lives.”—Joy James, Ebenezer Fitch Professor of the Humanities at Williams College, and author of New Bones Abolition: Captive Maternal Agency and the Afterlife of Erica Garner

"Redefining the Political introduces frameworks that recognize and document the everyday political identities and engagement of low-income Black women. These frameworks capture the extra-systemic politics that disenfranchised Black women engage in to advocate for basic survival.... The first part of the book lays out the conceptual formulations. The second part provides case studies that apply the frameworks to everyday women.... (T)he book provides useful tools for understanding how marginalized Black women create political power.... Summing Up: Recommended."—Choice

About the Author
Alex J. Moffett-Bateau is Assistant Professor of Political Science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York.