Battered Black Women And Welfare Reform: Between A Rock And A Hard Place (Suny Series In African American Studies),New

Examines The Consequences Of Welfare Reform For Black Women Fleeing Domestic Violence.This Timely And Compelling Ethnography Examines The Impact Of Welfare Reform On Women Seeking To Escape Domestic Violence. Danaain Davis Profiles Twentytwo Women, Thirteen Of Whom Are Black, Living In A Battered Womens Shelter In A Small City In Upstate New York. She Explores The Contradictions Between Welfare Reforms Supposed Success In Moving Women Off Of Public Assistance And Toward Economic Selfsufficiency And The Consequences Welfare Reform Policy Has Presented For Black Women Fleeing Domestic Violence. Focusing On The Intersection Of Poverty, Violence, And Race, She Demonstrates The Differential Treatment That Black And White Women Face In Their Entanglements With The Welfare Bureaucracy By Linking Those Entanglements To The Larger Political Economy Of A Small City, Neoliberal Social Policies, And Racialized Ideas About Black Women As Workers And Mothers.Black Women Have Always Been Viewed Negatively, Especially Due To Myths Of Being Lazy, Not Wanting To Work, Or Having Too Many Babies. The Books Major Theme Is That Welfare Reform Is Not Working, And Not Institutionally Supportive, Especially For Poor Black Women Who Are Victims Of Domestic Violence. Choicefor Anyone Who Imagines That Welfare Policy Promotes Improved Economic Wellbeing And Security, Opportunity, Selfsufficiency, And Hope For Poor Women And Their Families, This Book Is A Wakeup Call. From The Foreword By Sandra Morgenat Once An Ethnographic Community Study And A Review Of The National Data, There Are Very Few Books That Offer Such A Rich And Contextualized Analysis Of The Nexus Between Violence And Poverty. Beth E. Richie, Author Of Compelled To Crime: The Gender Entrapment Of Battered Black Womenthere Are Not Many Social Scientists Or Journalists Who Have Embedded Themselves So Deeply In A Particular Setting Like Angel House As Davis Has, Or Who Have Been Able To Witness Firsthand So Many Of The Rituals Of Degradation To Which These Women Are Routinely Subjected. I Found These Parts Of The Book To Be Completely Compelling And Disturbing. Susan Brin Hyatt, Indiana Universitypurdue University At Indianapolis