Being Mara Brock Akil: Representations of Black Womanhood on Television examines the body of work of Mara Brock Akil, the showrunner who produced Girlfriends, The Game, Being Mary Jane, and Love Is__. The contributions to this volume are theoretically anchored in Patricia Hill Collin's Black Feminist Thought, with a focus on how Brock Akil's shows intentionally address Black humanity and specifically provide context for Black women's lived experiences and empathy for Black womanhood by featuring woman-centered characters with flaws, strength, and complexity. Shauntae Brown White and Kandace L. Harris have compiled a volume that analyzes themes that define Black womanhood and examines audience reception of and social media interaction with Brock Akil's work.
Kandace L. Harris is special assistant to the president and associate professor of mass communication and media studies at Shaw University. Shauntae Brown White is coordinator of the Women's and Gender Studies program and associate professor in the Department of Mass Communication at North Carolina Central University.
Introduction: Being Mara Chapter 1: 'Girlfriends - There, Through Thick and Thin!': African American Female Sisterhood and the Quest for Happiness Chapter 2: Professional Success, Personal Turmoil: The Black Working Woman Image in Girlfriends Chapter 3: Real, Respectable, or Both: Respectability on Being Mary Jane through the Words of Mara Brock Akil Chapter 4: 'Girl, You Know I Got You:' The Ideology of Sisterhood on Being Mary Jane Chapter 5: What Love Is and Is Not: A Critical Discourse Analysis Chapter 6: Navigating The Game of Life: Women Viewers & The Game Chapter 7: Social Networks, Television and Black Women: An Analysis of Facebook Representations of Being Mary Jane Chapter 8: Social TV and Stereotypes: The Social Construction of #BeingMaryJane on Twitter Chapter 9: @MaraAkil: An Analysis of the Mara's Balance of Life, Family and Production on Instagram Afterword
Representations of Black Womanhood on Television: Being Mara Brock Akil is a powerful collaboration of Black female scholars shining light on a storyteller that has centered Black female voices for more than two decades. This text is both a picture and celebration of a Black woman who dared to dream. As such this volume marks its place in history and is guaranteed to be a resource for scholars and creatives interested in shining light on people in the shadows. -- Omotayo Banjo, University of Cincinnati In Representations of Black Womanhood on Television: Being Mara Brock Akil, Shauntae Brown White and Kandace L. Harris present an exquisite collection of scholarship--both critical interrogations and audience analyses- that not only examines Mara Bock Akil's creative oeuvre, but also details how this media tour de force locates and makes accessible Black women's humanity. The strength of this carefully curated volume of edited work is that the authors consider both creation and depiction to provide readers with new insights into what authentic representational inclusion means. -- Robin R. Means Coleman, Texas A&M University
