Redefining the Political: Black Feminism and the Politics of Everyday Life

In Redefining the Political: Black Feminism and the Politics of Everyday Life, Alex J. Moffett-Bateau audaciously extends and re-imagines the theoretical and conceptual understandings of politics and the political. While traditional definitions of politics and the political are not inclusive of the unaccounted ways individuals interact with their communities, Moffett-Bateau’s reconceptualization offers new insights into ways Black women engage and organize in their communities. Moffett-Bateau brings the reader’s attention to their one-year ethnographic study of Black women residents of Altgeld Gardens, a Chicago, Illinois public housing development. While many residents had negative connotations regarding words such as “politics”, “political work” or “activism” and “had differing ideas about how to categorize, recognize, or describe their work,” Moffett-Bateau offers “political practitioner” to explain “people doing various kinds of socio-political-cultural work” (p. 24).  Political practitioners can include, but are not limited to: “political scholars, pollsters, data scientists, activists, organizers…” and “anyone engaged in the work of developing political ideology” (p. 24). Moffett-Bateau’s ethnographic study was driven by the primary question: “What concepts and theories are capable of recognizing and documenting the political engagement and political identity development of marginalized Black women living in poverty within the United States?” (p. 4).

In the Introduction, Moffett-Bateau argues the traditional methods in studying politics and the political “are insufficient” in understanding the “sociopolitical worlds of marginalized Black women” (p. 7).  They, therefore, pinpoint the importance of the political work that Black women do outside of the common, “respectable,” traditional notions of politics and the political, described as “extrasystemic politics” (p. 24). Moffett-Bateau does not dismiss the importance of traditional politics, instead they highlight how Black women’s extrasystemic politics are, in fact, political. Moffett-Bateau argues that Black women cannot engage in extrasystemic politics without sociopolitical tools (commonly referred to as political engagement). They define sociopolitical tools as any method and strategy used to push back against oppressive forces.  Sociopolitical tools are developed in sociopolitical communities where an individual’s interpersonal relationship to their home and community are tied to a person’s political imagination, political identity, and extrasystemic politics. In understanding the mobilization of Black women residents of Altgeld Gardens, Moffett-Bateau developed the political possible-self (PPS) to “recognize and place value in the language everyday people use to describe people’s politics and political identities” (p. 22). They also developed the Black feminist definitional criterion of politics and the political (BFDC) theoretical framework to acknowledge “traditional, extrasystemic, and subversive sociopolitical tools” (p. 23).

In Chapter 2, Moffett-Bateau provides an in-depth perspective the contribution the political possible-self (PPS) makes to understanding political identity development. Moffett-Bateau argues the PPS develops from a sense of membership in one’s community and can be fluid, as well as, progressive. The PPS matrix and its four domains: alienated, visionary, community, and liberatory, “can help us understand the political possibilities of people, and maybe even communities” (p. 56). Moffett-Bateau utilizes a Black feminist perspective in developing the PPS to bring attention and appreciation to the intersectional, community-based, personal experiences of Black women Altgeld Gardens residents narratives. Moffett-Bateau ethnographic interviews illustrates the fluidity of Altgeld Gardens residents: Lisa, Toni, Regine, and Kate’s PPS  For instance, Regine, an Altgeld resident for over forty years, shifted from a community PPS to a more liberatory PPS as a result of the political education and interpersonal connections developed within the community. Moffett-Bateau’s PPS matrix not only accounts for changes in a person’s political identity development overtime but demonstrates that the flexibility of “the PPS framework allows for a more holistic political picture of marginalized individuals, and marginalized groups writ large” (p. 80).

In Chapter 3, Moffett-Bateau provides a historical and contemporary context of Chicago public housing, Black women organizing within public housing, as well as Altgeld residents access to public spaces to highlight the Black feminist definitional criterion (BFDC) of politics and the political. The BFDC demonstrates the identification of the distinct “meaning-making power” contribution of community and public spaces to an individual’s political imagination (p. 82). Moffett-Bateau identifies Chicago public housing as an “Black enclave public sphere” where “residents develop their PPS through public-spirited conversation and also troubles firm divisions between ideas of ‘public’ and ‘private’ space” (p. 85).  Moffett-Bateau highlights Altgeld resident, Sara, who used the “Black enclave public sphere” to advocate for herself and other residents about the entitlement programs that they were eligible for. Chapter 3 provides insightful assessment of Chicago Housing Authority’s Plan for Transformation, meritocratic arguments and neoliberalism. Chapter 3 concludes with an elaboration of methodological choices, data collection, sampling, and recruitment.

In Chapter 4, the “meaning-making power” of spaces are further discussed in regard to Altgeld residents politics of homemaking (p. 82; p. 111).  The politics of homemaking are dedicated to “creating a safe space within their homes where neighbors and friends could engage in public-spirited conversation” (p. 111). The creation of a safe space is a political act that challenges the consistent neglect and state surveillance in the community. Moffett-Bateau argues that political imagination without interpersonal and community relationships resulted in the lack of connection to public spaces. Through ethnographic interviews, the dissociation some Altgeld residents partook in were what “kept them alive and safe. [and] It is not a strategy without merit” (p. 114). The stories of Ceely and Nettie exemplified an alienated/semi-alienated PPS because of their low interest in politics and disengagement with the Altgeld community. However, as Moffett-Bateau pinpoints, further exploration of an alienated PPS shall be assessed because: 1.) acts of alienation could be political and 2.) Ceely and Nettie as some of the youngest Altgeld residents in the study could shed more light into alienation politics. Chapter 4 further explores the stories of older residents, Octavia, Sofia, Ms. Barbara, and Shug, to illustrate higher levels of community and political engagement. Chapter 4 concludes that researchers and practitioners should continue to explore “the ways that ecological, spatial, and geographic factors in turn shape the sociopolitical tools of residents” (p. 162).

Chapter 5 explores how shared experiences and community belonging develops an increased political imagination in Altgeld residents.  Regardless of the consistent violence and isolation Altgeld residents face, Moffett-Bateau describes the power of belonging as an essential element in understanding the individual PPS of Altgeld residents. Moffett-Bateau highlights the stories of Max and Sinclair who utilized their experiences and knowledge to “educate their friends and neighbors throughout Altgeld’s local sociopolitical community” (p. 179). Altgeld residents who have a sense of belonging to their community were able to establish connections that assisted in developing sociopolitical tools.  Max’s strong interpersonal and community networks allowed her to develop a sense of political power and sociopolitical tools such as free political education for themselves and the Altgeld community. Moffett-Bateau concludes the chapter with specifying that “political practitioners benefit from considering how violence, neighborhoods, and friendship networks function in relationship to the sociopolitical development of U.S. citizens” (p. 187).

Chapter 6, “Conclusion,” Moffet-Bateau reaffirms their argument that “belonging and political imagination are two key factors in accurately recognizing and documenting individual political identity within marginalized Black communities” (p. 190). The Conclusion is a recollection of the contributions Redefining the Political provides such as the: theoretical frameworks of PPS and BFDC, extrasystemic politics, and sociopolitical community. Furthermore, Moffett-Bateau gives a comprehensive synopsis of the eight findings in the Algeld ethnographic study.  Moffett-Bateau’s bold ethnographic study demonstrates the need for the reconfiguration of the concepts of politics and the political to account for the nontraditional politics of Black women Altgeld residents. Similar to Angela Y. Davis’s Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement (2016) and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective (2017), Moffett-Bateau’s ethnography serves as a significant blueprint for further exploration of how oppression impacts displaced communities, as well as, a call to action “to think broadly about conceptual categories like liberation, joy, and desire,” so “political practitioners can come closer to understanding what marginalized populations want from politics” (p. 205).