In Grandmothering While Black, sociologist LaShawnDa L. Pittman explores the complex lives of Black grandmothers raising their grandchildren in skipped-generation households (consisting only of grandparents and grandchildren). She prioritizes the voices of Black grandmothers through in-depth interviews and ethnographic research at various sites—doctor's visits, welfare offices, school and day care center appointments, caseworker meetings, and more. Through careful examination, she explores the various forces that compel, constrain, and support Black grandmothers' caregiving.
Pittman showcases a fundamental change in the relationship between grandmother and grandchild as grandmothers confront the paradox of fulfilling the social and legal functions of motherhood without the legal rights of the role. Grandmothering While Black illuminates the strategies used by grandmothers to manage legal their marginalization vis-à-vis parents and the state across a range of caregiving arrangements. In doing so, it reveals the overwhelming and painful decisions Black grandmothers must make to ensure the safety and well-being of the next generation.
By:
LaShawnDa L. Pittman
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 28mm
Weight: 590g
ISBN: 9780520389953
ISBN 10: 0520389956
Pages: 350
Publication Date: 02 May 2023
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
"Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Mothering While Black 2. Black Grandmothering: Role Expectations, Meanings, and Conflict 3. How Grandmothers Experience and Respond to Coerced Mothering within Informal Kinship Care 4. How Grandmothers Experience and Respond to Coerced Mothering within Formal Kinship Care 5. ""He Don’t Get Enough Money to Do All That. And I Don’t Either"": Grandmothers' Economic Survival Strategies 6. Managing the Burden and the Blessing Conclusion Appendix: The Five-Tiered System of Kinship Care Notes Bibliography Index"
LaShawnDa L. Pittman is Associate Professor in the Department of American Ethnic Studies and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Reviews for Grandmothering While Black: A Twenty-First-Century Story of Love, Coercion, and Survival
"""A powerful ethnography."" * Fostering Families Today *"
