Rethinking Black Motherhood and Drug Addictions: Counternarratives of Black Family Resilience

229 Pages·2018·1.412 MB·English

by  Tierra B. Tivis

106
Rethinking Black Motherhood and Drug Addictions: Counternarratives of Black Family Resilience offers
R
a unique perspective on the complexities of being a Black mother addicted to crack, powder cocaine,
e
th
heroin, and crank. Qualitative interviews provide rich narratives from five Black mothers challenging

i
negative controlled images and stereotypes of Black motherhood and drug addiction. Using Black n
k
Feminist Thought, Critical Race Feminism, and Resilience as conceptual frameworks, this book confronts
i
n
hegemonic constructions of Black mothers and their children within the context of drug addictions. g

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Particular attention is focused on using the mothers’ self-definitions of struggles and family resilience
l
to dismantle the negative controlled images of the junkie and the crack ho’ and her crack baby. a
c
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The mothers in this book speak truth to their experiences with motherhood and addictions to some of

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the most powerful street drugs that explicitly defy the junkie, crack ho’, and crack baby images. The
o
th
book also addresses tensions existing within researcher-participant relationships and nuances unique

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to research with Black mothers in recovery. Personal lessons learned and challenges experienced
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h
during the research process are highlighted as Tivis shares dilemmas of self-reflections of positionality,
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accountability and use of language. o
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Rethinking Black Motherhood and Drug Addictions contains important implications for research and a
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practice in education and across other disciplines concentrating on mothers and children from racially d

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academics within these disciplines. Rethinking Black Motherhood and Drug Addictions will be of interest u
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to advanced pre-service teachers and other disciplines engaging in clinical and professional practice
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TIERRA B. TIVIS holds a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Illinois at o
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Urbana-Champaign. Her teaching and scholarship focuses on early childhood, early childhood s

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Tierra B. Tivis
Cover Image: Reassembled, © Zahra Ifetayo Sule’
106
Rethinking Black Motherhood and Drug Addictions: Counternarratives of Black Family Resilience offers
R
a unique perspective on the complexities of being a Black mother addicted to crack, powder cocaine,
e
th
heroin, and crank. Qualitative interviews provide rich narratives from five Black mothers challenging

i
negative controlled images and stereotypes of Black motherhood and drug addiction. Using Black n
k
Feminist Thought, Critical Race Feminism, and Resilience as conceptual frameworks, this book confronts
i
n
hegemonic constructions of Black mothers and their children within the context of drug addictions. g

B
Particular attention is focused on using the mothers’ self-definitions of struggles and family resilience
l
to dismantle the negative controlled images of the junkie and the crack ho’ and her crack baby. a
c
k
The mothers in this book speak truth to their experiences with motherhood and addictions to some of

M
the most powerful street drugs that explicitly defy the junkie, crack ho’, and crack baby images. The
o
th
book also addresses tensions existing within researcher-participant relationships and nuances unique

e
to research with Black mothers in recovery. Personal lessons learned and challenges experienced
r
h
during the research process are highlighted as Tivis shares dilemmas of self-reflections of positionality,
o
accountability and use of language. o
d

Rethinking Black Motherhood and Drug Addictions contains important implications for research and a
n
practice in education and across other disciplines concentrating on mothers and children from racially d

Reth inking
diverse backgrounds. This book will be relevant for both undergraduate and graduate students and D
r
academics within these disciplines. Rethinking Black Motherhood and Drug Addictions will be of interest u
Black
g
to advanced pre-service teachers and other disciplines engaging in clinical and professional practice
A
with addiction and with families. d Moth erhood
d
i
c
t and Drug
i
TIERRA B. TIVIS holds a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Illinois at o
n
Addictions
Urbana-Champaign. Her teaching and scholarship focuses on early childhood, early childhood s

special education, and Black families and resilience from a Black Feminist and Critical Race Co󰇻n󰇹󰈥󰈦na󰇶󰈦󰇧t󰇯󰇽e󰈤 󰈢f B󰇰󰈜󰈝k 󰈋a󰇲󰇮󰇱y R󰈥󰇷i󰇱󰇮󰈥n󰈛e

perspective. Ti
v
i
s
www.peterlang.co m
P
E
T
E
R
L
A
N
G
Tierra B. Tivis
Cover Image: Reassembled, © Zahra Ifetayo Sule’
Rethinking
Black Motherhood and
Drug Addictions
Rochelle Brock and Cynthia Dillard

Executive Editors

Vol. 106

The Black Studies and Critical Thinking series
is part of the Peter Lang Education list.
Every volume is peer reviewed and meets
the highest quality standards for content and production.

PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Frankfurt  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
Tierra B. Tivis

Rethinking
Black Motherhood and
Drug Addictions

Counternarratives of
Black Family Resilience

PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Frankfurt  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Tivis, Tierra B., author.
Title: Rethinking black motherhood and drug addictions: counternarratives of
black family resilience / Tierra B. Tivis.
Description: New York: Peter Lang, 2018.
Series: Black studies and critical thinking; vol. 106 | ISSN 1947-5985
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017038559 | ISBN 978-1-4331-3503-3 (pbk.: alk. paper) |
ISBN 978-1-4331-3504-0 (hardback: alk. paper) |
ISBN 978-1-4331-4963-4 (ebook pdf) | ISBN 978-1-4331-4964-1 (epub) |
ISBN 978-1-4331-4965-8 (mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: African American families. | African American mothers. |
African American mothers—Substance use. | Women drug addicts—
Family relationships—United States. | African American women—
Family relationships.
Classification: LCC E185.86.T5135 | DDC 306.85/08996073—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017038559
DOI 10.3726/b11813

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.

© 2018 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006
www.peterlang.com

All rights reserved.
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.
To my parents who taught me to be fair and remain true to myself,
sista-friends who supported me along this journey, and my baby girl,
Tatiyana. To all Black mothers and babies who were treated like or ever felt
like just another junkie, crack ho’ or crack baby. May you continue to be
resilient and dispel the myth.

contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction by Laurence J. Parker xi
Chapter 1. “These People Are Suffering:” Help versus Incarceration 1
Chapter 2. T ools for Understanding Drug Addiction and
Black Mothers’ Standpoint 13
Chapter 3. O rigin of the Crack Ho’: Mammies, Jezebels,
Controlled Images, and Prosecution of Addiction 25
Chapter 4. “ From Suga to Shit”: The Drug Business and
Destruction of Black Communities 45
Chapter 5. M ore About the Mothers, Research Practice,
Black Motherhood and Addiction 67
Chapter 6. “ I Had Help”: Kinship, Drug Addictions,
and Black Family Resilience 95
Chapter 7. “ Wasn’ No Junkie, I Was a Workin’ Addict ...
It’s a Difference”: Self-Definition of Black Mothers’
Roles and Responsibilities 115
Chapter 8. C rack Baby Aftermath and Navigating
Educational Institutions 139
viii rethinking black motherhood and drug addictions
Chapter 9. “ I Was Just Cryin’ Out To God”: Recovery and
the Spirituality of Struggle 165
Discussion: What the Mothers Made Me Think About 187
Contributor Bio—Dr. Laurence J. Parker 207
Index 209