In the discipline's early days, anthropologists were assumed to be white and male. Women and black scholars were relegated to the field's periphery. White feminist anthropologists have successfully carved out an intellectual space identified as feminist anthropology. Unfortunately, the works of black and non-Western feminist anthropologists are rarely cited, and they have yet to be respected as significant shapers of the direction and transformation of feminist anthropology.

Irma McClaurin has collected essays that explore the contributions of black feminist anthropologists. Contributors disclose how their experiences as black women have influenced their anthropological practice in Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States, and how anthropology has influenced their development as black feminists. Each essay suggests how the author's field experiences have affected the theoretical and methodological choices she has made.