UnCommon Bonds is a collection of essays written by women representing multiple identities; all uniquely addressing the impactful experiences of race, ethnicity, and friendship in the context of the United States. The essays unapologetically explore the challenges of developing and maintaining cross-racial friendships between women. A primary goal of this book is to resist simplifying cross-racial friendships. Instinctively, the editors believe that there is a unique joy and pain in these relationships that is rarely easy to summarize. The essays reflect narratives that challenge assumptions, disclose deep interpersonal struggles, and celebrate the complex sisterhood between women across racial lines.
For more information, please visit: www.uncommonbondsbook.com
For more information, please visit: www.uncommonbondsbook.com
"Kersha Smith and Marcella Runell Hall have curated a touching set of essays that invite us to think with nuance about the challenges and rewards of interracial and cross-cultural friendships. The works bristle with honesty, dig-ging deep into the challenges of forming rare 'uncommon bonds' of sisterhood across differences that are not merely descriptive, but imbricated in the asymmetrical power relations that shape the world we share. If you are looking for a rousing chorus of Kumbaya, look elsewhere-this book reveals the complicated, difficult, self-reflective, and transformative work that makes it possible for adult women to call some few true loves, sista-friends." Deva Woodly-Davis, Associate Professor of Politics, The New School, and author of "The Politics of Common Sense"
"«UnCommon Bonds is a brave, thoughtful, complicated and honest examination of the challenges and rewards of building and sustaining authentic cross-race friendships. The book examines the issue in a range of creative and engaging ways-through autobiographical narratives, essays, dialogues, letters and critical social analysis linked to personal experience. The result is a provocative and urgent exploration of why this effort can be so hard, as well as a testament to how life affirming and essential cross-race relationships can be. Unlike other books that focus only on cross-race alliances between women of color and white women, this book also looks at the challenges and opportunities in the bonds created among women of color from diverse racial groups. Further, it attends to the in-tersections of class, gender, generation, transnational location and other aspects of identity that impact such rela-tionships-all the while keeping race central to the dialogue. The book offers breathtaking honesty and coura-geous truth telling from women of color about the damage white ignorance and cowardice can do to relation-ships-even within multiracial families. It also offers a wake-up call and some excellent modeling for white women about the commitment, humility, self-reflection and vulnerability necessary for being trustworthy partners/allies to women of color. The writing is vivid, strong and deeply moving with many powerful lessons to offer readers who struggle to create meaningful relationships across race. The hard-won knowledge reflected in this book is a gift to us all." Lee Anne Bell, Professor Emerita, Barnard College, and author of «Storytelling for Social Justice: Connecting Narrative and the Arts in Antiracist Teaching»