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Branding Black Womanhood
Media Citizenship from Black Power to Black Girl Magic
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Timeka N. Tounsel
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2022
About this book
CaShawn Thompson crafted Black Girls Are Magic as a proclamation of Black women’s resilience in 2013. Less than five years later, it had been repurposed as a gateway to an attractive niche market. Branding Black Womanhood: Media Citizenship from Black Power to Black Girl Magic examines the commercial infrastructure that absorbed Thompson’s mantra. While the terminology may have changed over the years, mainstream brands and mass media companies have consistently sought to acknowledge Black women’s possession of a distinct magic or power when it suits their profit agendas.
Beginning with the inception of the Essence brand in the late 1960s, Timeka N. Tounsel examines the individuals and institutions that have reconfigured Black women’s empowerment as a business enterprise. Ultimately, these commercial gatekeepers have constructed an image economy that operates as both a sacred space for Black women and an easy hunting ground for their dollars.
Beginning with the inception of the Essence brand in the late 1960s, Timeka N. Tounsel examines the individuals and institutions that have reconfigured Black women’s empowerment as a business enterprise. Ultimately, these commercial gatekeepers have constructed an image economy that operates as both a sacred space for Black women and an easy hunting ground for their dollars.
Author / Editor information
TIMEKA N. TOUNSEL is an assistant professor of African American studies and media studies at Pennsylvania State University.
Reviews
"Overall this text strikes a balance between critical engagement and critique, acknowledging how Black women have been empowered through visibility in the media, but how such participation is both limited and commercialized. The book’s framing of 'Black Girl Magic' is relevant to the current moment in which such language is prolific in popular culture, and this analysis is more potent through Tounsel's contextualization of the history of Essence magazine. . . . Branding Black Womanhood's audience is vast, including scholars, the public, and the media industry."— Critical Studies in Media Communication
“Branding Black Womanhood unearths the untold histories of the now-ubiquitous, commercial concept of 'Black Girl Magic.' With clear and compelling prose, Timeka Tounsel thoughtfully tells the story of how representations of Black women as 'magic' both provides Black women with empowerment and delivers a sparkly image that can seriously undercut Black women’s need for care.”
— Ralina L. Joseph, author of Generation Mixed Goes to School: Listening to Multiracial KidsTopics
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
June 17, 2022
eBook ISBN:
9781978829930
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
174
Other:
12 b&w images
eBook ISBN:
9781978829930
Keywords for this book
CaShawn Thompson; Black Girls Are Magic; Black women; niche market; commercial; mainstream brands; mass media; black power; profit; Essence brand; empowerment; business enterprise; commercial gatekeepers; image economy; Black Womanhood; Self-branding; Susan L. Taylor; marketing; Black Female Empowerment; Content Creators; content creation
Audience(s) for this book
College/higher education;
