Empowerment through entrepreneurship: An intersectional analysis of race, gender, and class in Self Made

Wajiran Wajiran; Ana Widiyanti

doi:10.12928/notion.v6i2.10875

Authors

Wajiran Wajiran Universitas Ahmad Dahlan
Ana Widiyanti Universitas Sains Al-Qur’an

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12928/notion.v6i2.10875

Keywords:

Black feminism, Discrimination, Intersectionality, Beauty standard, Self made

Abstract

The miniseries Self Made depicts Black women's empowerment, intersectionality, and entrepreneurship. The study examines how the series depicts Sarah Breedlove's socio-economic hardships as she overcomes racial, gender, and class oppression to become America's first self-made Black female millionaire through qualitative analysis of key scenes and dialogues. The study uses Black feminist theory and intersectionality to show how Sarah's entrepreneurial career empowers Black women by questioning beauty norms and providing economic opportunity. Analysis shows how the series criticizes racism and misogyny while glorifying resistance and communal cohesion. The analysis also highlights the series' relevance to racial and gender equality discourse in capitalist economies. The study shows how cultural representations like Self Made may drive social change and help us comprehend Black female entrepreneurs' particular obstacles by focusing on their intersectional experiences. This research advances media studies, feminist theory, and African American cultural history by demonstrating entrepreneurship's transformative capacity to empower.

References

Abbar, I. M., Othman, W. M., & Waham, J. J. (2019). The impact of hegemony and apartheid against African American women: A critical study of Alice Walker. Malaysian Journal of Social Science and Humanities (MJSSH), 4(4), 76–80.

Alemu, W. G., Due, C., Muir-Cochrane, E., Mwanri, L., & Ziersch, A. (2023). Internalized stigma among people with mental illness in Africa, pooled effect estimates and subgroup analysis on each domain: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Psychiatry, 23(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-04950-2

Collins, P. H. (2000). Black feminist thought knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. In The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (2nd Ed). Routledge. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203900055

Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the Intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 19(8), 139–167.

Davis, A. Y. (1997). Race and criminalization: Black Americans and the punishment industry. In The House that Race Built (pp. 264–279).

Davis, C. A. (1982). Self, society, and myth in Toni Morrison’s Fiction Author (s): Cynthia A. Davis published by : University of Wisconsin Press Stable URL : https://www.jstor.org/stable/1208158 REFERENCES Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article : re. Contemporary Literature, 23(3), 323–342.

Frances, L., E., & Grayson, Bennett, T. (2010). The legal creation of raced space: The subtle and ongoing discrimination created through Jim Crow laws. The Berkeley Journal of African-American Law & Policy, 12(1), 145. https://doi.org/10.15779/Z38XC8T

Hooks, B. (1981). Ain’t I a woman: Black women and feminism. South End Press.

Ingrid, B. (2022). Black beauty culture matters: Race, gender, and consumer capitalism. Journal of Women's History, 34(1). https://doi.org/10.1353/jowh.2022.0003

Mendrofa, M. P. (2020). Feminist critical discourse analysis to the language use and display in whitening cosmetic product advertisements. SAGA: Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 1(2), 119–126.

https://doi.org/10.21460/saga.2020.12.45

Nakayama, D. K. (2024). The great migration and healthcare to Black America. American Surgeon, 90(1), 5–8. https://doi.org/10.1177/00031348231181098

Nupus, P. Z. T., & Junaedi, F. (2023). Representasi perlawanan terhadap rasisme dalam series netflix Self-Made: Inspired by the life of madam C.J. Walker (2020). Komuniti : Jurnal Komunikasi Dan Teknologi Informasi, 15(1), 27–53. https://doi.org/10.23917/komuniti.v15i1.19466

Ortega RP. (2023). Segregation was already hurting Black health 100 years ago. Science. Epub. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adj2239

Peiss, K. (1998). Hope in a Jar: The Making of America’s Beauty Culture—University of Pennsylvania Press.

Wajiran, W. (2013). The Domination of Ideas and Intellectuality in gaining the power and hegemony in Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw. Jurnal Humaniora UGM, 25(2), 143–150. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.22146/jh.2357

Wajiran, W. (2024). The portrayal of black women in Toni Morrison’s Beloved, The Bluest Eye, and Song of Solomon. Research Journal in Advanced Humanities, 5(3), 37–48. https://doi.org/10.58256/f5hm1396

Wilkerson, I. (2010). The Warmth of other suns: The epic story of America’s great migration. African Diaspora Archaeology Newsletter, 13(4).

https://scholarworks.umass.edu/adan/vol13/iss4/25?utm_source=scholarworks.umass.edu%2Fadan%2Fvol13%2Fiss4%2F25&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages