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Psychology of Women Quarterly
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The online version of this article can be found at:

DOI: 10.1177/0361684313520135
2014 38: 155 Psychology of Women Quarterly
Heather Jean MacArthur
Book Review: Mediating race, globalizing gender

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& Ferree, 2010; Collins, 2000). Castaneda and Isgro include
the voices of Latina, African American, and lesbian moms, as
well as moms who struggle financially. As such, their work is
a contribution to existing mothering research that tends to pri-
vilege the experiences of White, middle-class mothers.
Lest we think that this work is bleak in nature, know that
we also hear tales of strength. Nearly all the readings speak to
the presence and vital role of social support. Many women
speak of mentors who made all of the difference in their
struggles to negotiate academia and mothering. Several of the
testimonios utilize the work of Patricia Hill Collins (1994,
2000) to describe the importance of othermothers and
Carol Stacks (1975) term fictive kin. Whereas Collins and
Stack referred specifically to Black women and the ways in
which these mothers step in and care for children of the com-
munity, the othermother concept is present in the lives of
most of these women across various races and classes.
Mothers in Academia not only provides an account of
mothers struggles, it also serves as a resource for feminist
theory, work and family research, and the large body of mother-
ing research. Examples include the aforementioned work of
Williams (2001), Collins (1994, 2000), and Stack (1975), as
well as that of Audre Lorde (1984), Nancy Chodorow (1978),
and a host of others. In addition, this book offers extensive
accounts of policy programs, such as the Family and Medical
Leave Act, as well as in-depth accounts of policy research.
This work is divided into three parts that explore political,
social, and economic conditions; the unexpected challenges
and revelations that mothers face; and policies that are both
in place and desperately needed. In Part I, Irene Mata tells of
moving with her children from California, a place of cultural
familiarity, to Massachusetts, where, in addition to adjusting
to a new job, she must worry about the racism that her children
face in a majority White population. Others discuss the trials of
acquiring tenure (or a doctorate) when children are born.
Throughout the book, the authors ponder the question that
looms for academic women: When or if to have children?
The works in this collection are heavily referenced
which is goodbut which, at times, can feel heavy with
direct quotes. Some of the readings seem to belong in other
sections. These are slight issues, however, in a book that is
otherwise rich with storytelling and research. Mothers in
Academia lives up to its goal by using testimonios of mothers
to reveal the personal struggles and the institutional failings
that make mothering in higher education a challenge.
References
Chodorow, N. (1978). The reproduction of mothering: Psychoanaly-
sis and the sociology of gender. Berkeley: University of Califor-
nia Press.
Choo, H. Y., & Ferree, M. M. (2010). Practicing intersectionality in
sociological research: A critical analysis of inclusions, interac-
tions, and institutions in the study of inequalities. Sociological
Theory, 28, 129149.
Collins, P. H. (1994). Shifting the center: Race, class, and feminist
theorizing about motherhood. In E. N. GlennG. Chang & L. R.
Forcey (Eds.), Mothering, ideology, experience, and agency
(pp. 4565). New York, NY: Routledge.
Collins, P. H. (2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, con-
sciousness, and the politics of empowerment. New York, NY:
Routledge.
Evans, E., & Grant, C. (2008). Mama PhD: Women write about
motherhood and academic life. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers Uni-
versity Press.
Lorde, A. (1984). Sister outsider: Essays and speeches by Audre
Lorde. Freedom, PA: Crossing Press.
Stack, C. B. (1975). All our kin: Strategies for survival in a Black
community. New York, NY: Harper & Row.
Williams, J. (2001). Unbending gender: Why family and work con-
flict and what to do about it. New York, NY: Oxford University
Press.
Author Biography
Jean-Anne Sutherland is an assistant professor in the department
of sociology and criminology at the University of North Carolina
Wilmington.
Hobson, J. (2012). Body as evidence: Mediating race, globalizing gender.
Albany, NY: SUNY Press. 220 pp. $22.46 (paperback). ISBN: 978143
8444000.
Reviewed by: Heather Jean MacArthur, The Pennsylvania State
University, University Park, PA
DOI: 10.1177/0361684313520135
Although Janelle Hobsons book Body as Evidence: Mediating
Race, Globalizing Gender was intended for a humanities audi-
ence (Womens Studies, African American Studies, and Media
Studies), aspects of it may be useful for psychology of women
scholars as well. Hobsons primary aimis to call attention to the
continued importance of raced and gendered bodies within a
society that is sometimes portrayed as having moved into a
post-feminist and post-racial age. In tackling subjects
such as cultural appropriation, sex work, and popular music
videos, Hobson emphasizes that issues of historical, socioeco-
nomic, and cultural power are intertwined with and written onto
bodies, and therefore, that the particular body one inhabits still
bears significantly on ones experiences within contemporary
U.S. culture. It is for this embodiedapproachthat manypsychol-
ogists will find the book useful: Hobsons work underscores the
Book Reviews 155
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importance of takingbodies into consideration in feminist scho-
larship of all disciplines.
Body as Evidence comprises six chapters, which are
divided into two overarching parts. In Part 1, Hobson takes
readers through a number of examples from the media, pop-
ular culture, and academic scholarship to demonstrate that
contemporary U.S. culture fosters an illusion of inclusion
(p. 41), in which the recent election of a Black president and
the popularity of television shows like American Idol seem to
suggest that anyone can achieve power and success in this
country. Hobson, however, reminds us that such spectacles
are illusory by offering numerous examples of how bodies
that deviate from the White male norm continue to be
sidelined in popular representation.
In Part 2, Hobson narrows her analysis to focus on the
meaning of race and gender within an increasingly digitized
world. One of the most compelling aspects of her investigation
is analysis of films such as The Matrix, 2001: A Space Odys-
sey, and Strange Days, which illustrate a racialized digital
divide in which Black bodies (both female and male) are
positioned in popular media as primitive and in opposition
to technology, whereas White (primarily male) bodies are
aligned with progress and the online world. Hobson also dis-
cusses race and gender in the context of the Internet. Despite
popular rhetoric focused on the liberatory potential of the Inter-
net, which seemingly leaves all visible traces of gender and
race behind, Hobson argues that digital culture perpetuates
racist and sexist ideologies in new ways. She suggests, for
example, that the costs of technology are borne overwhel-
mingly by women whose unacknowledged assembly-line labor
produces the very equipment that is used to disseminate their
objectification through the online pornography industry.
Although many individual aspects of Hobsons analysis
(such as her discussion of the digital divide mentioned above)
are novel and insightful, she may be preaching to the choir to
some extent with her overall argument, given that her primary
audience of Womens Studies scholars will already be
convinced of the continued importance of race, gender, and
the body in current U.S. society. Furthermore, Hobsons
treatment of gender and race issues could have profited from
more explicit use of intersectionality frameworks (e.g., Ber-
ger & Guidroz, 2009), given the importance of considering
the impact of one dimension (e.g., race) on the other (gender)
in determining a persons experience. Nevertheless, Hob-
sons exposure of the raced and gendered meanings hidden
within popular media is thoughtful and compelling, and her
message that sexism and racism are alive and well in contem-
porary society certainly bears repeating. For this reason, the
book may be particularly relevant to those teaching the
Psychology of Women/Gender at the undergraduate level
because it offers a number of accessible and current-day
media examples of how sexism and racism are embedded
in U.S. culture. Overall, Body as Evidence: Mediating Race,
Globalizing Gender is recommended for psychologists who
wish to step outside disciplinary boundaries to engage with
a thought-provoking and embodiment-oriented text.
Reference
Berger, M. T., & Guidroz, K. (Eds.). (2009). The intersectional
approach: Transforming the academy through race, class, &
gender. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
Author Biography
Heather Jean MacArthur is a graduate student in Social Psychol-
ogy and Womens Studies at The Pennsylvania State University, and
completed this review under the supervision of Dr. Stephanie A.
Shields.
156 Psychology of Women Quarterly 38(1)
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