Black Women’s Joy and Why it Matters: Heavenly Creatures and the Politics of Feeling Good

This is a study of the phenomena of Black women’s joy—what it is, why it matters, and how it is helpful in resisting oppression, including racism and sexism. It is an attempt to grasp the scope of the social exclusion of Black women in anti-Black and sexist dominant cultures. The Black experience entails learning through specified and insinuated language what one can and cannot do according to the barriers and rules of the dominant culture. Those social norms and ways of being are written and unwritten, and a tone policing exists by the dominant culture to reinforce said norms. The importance of this research aims to explore what Black women’s joy is and how Black women’s joy pushes back on the policing of Black women’s existence and the gender inequalities they experience. It resists the boxes or cages systemically created for Black women. The topic was inspired by the reality of how within the Black experience there is a necessity to navigate oppressive terrain that leaves Black women emotionally, physically, and mentally ex-hausted and traumatised. Black women choosing to live with joy is a radical act. Thus, Black women’s joy, why it matters, and how it helps in resistance against oppression is a rigorous act of love.