Collins, Patricia
Hill, 1948–, American sociologist and social
theorist, b. Philadelphia, Ph.D. Brandeis University, 1984. A noted
African-American studies scholar and activist, Collins completed her BA in
sociology from Brandeis University in 1969 and MA in teaching from Harvard
University in 1970. At Brandeis, Pauli Murray served as an
influential advisor. In 1982, Collins joined the Department of
African-American Studies at the University of Cincinnati where she taught
for two decades and eventually became a Distinguished Professor of
Sociology. In 2005, Collins joined the University of Maryland where she is
currently Distinguished University Professor. A social theorist of race, gender, social class, sexuality, and
nationality, Collins has written extensively on numerous sociological
topics, including standpoint epistemology, matrix of domination, and
feminist epistemology. She
is considered a major scholar of Black feminist thought and philosophy.
Collins is known for her influential essay, "Learning from the Outsider Within,"
published in Social Problems in 1986. Although first
formally articulated by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, Collins is credited
with developing the term intersectionality. Through this concept she has
explained how oppression from any single identity cannot be studied in
isolation from the network of oppression that functions due to myriad
identities. In 1990, she published Black Feminist Thought,
which won the Jessie Bernard Award from the American Sociological
Association (ASA) and the C. Wright Mills Award from the Society for the
Study of Social Problems (SSSP). In 2008, she became the president of the
ASA, the first African-American woman elected to this position in the
history of the organization. Throughout her career, Collins has been a key
voice as a public sociologist.
Collins has published several books, including, but not limited to, Black
Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of
Empowerment (1990), Fighting Words: Black Women and the
Search for Justice (1998), Black Sexual Politics:
African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism (2005),
From Black Power to Hip Hop: Racism, Nationalism, and
Feminism (2006), and Intersectionality as Critical
Social Theory (2019).
See A. P. A. Busia and S. M. James, eds., Theorizing Black Feminisms: The
Visionary Pragmatism of Black Women (2005); C. Calhoun, ed.,
Sociology in America: A History (2008); S. Kim and C.
McCann, eds., Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global
Perspectives (3d ed. 2013); P. R. Grzanka, ed.,
Intersectionality: A Foundations and Frontiers Reader
(2018); J. C. Nash, Black Feminism Reimagined: After
Intersectionality (2018); Z. Luna and W. Pirtle, eds.,
Black Feminist Sociology: Perspectives and Praxis
(2021).
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