Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction -- Note on usage -- Black feminism -- Why Black feminist thought? -- Fighting words-- : or yet another version of the emperor's new clothes -- Black sexual politics 101 -- Resisting racism, writing Black sexual politics -- Still brave? : Black feminism as a social justice project -- Sociology of knowledge -- Learning from the outsider within revisited -- Going public : doing the sociology that had no name -- Changing times : sociological complexities -- The racial threat -- Rethinking knowledge, community and empowerment : an interview -- Critical education -- Critical pedagogy and engaged scholarship : lessons from St. Joseph's community school -- Teaching for a change : critical pedagogy and classroom communities -- Another kind of public education -- Making space for public conversations : an interview -- Racial politics -- Coloring outside the color line -- Are we living in a post-racial world? -- On the brink : violence and U.S. society -- Who's right? : what's left? : family values and U.S. politics -- Intellectual activism revisited -- Toward a new vision : race, class, and gender as categories of analysis and connection -- Where do we go from here? -- Index.

Sociologist Patricia Hill Collins has been called in Contemporary Sociology "one of the defining voices of contemporary feminist and race scholarship." Well known for her contributions to sociology, social theory, and cultural studies, her numerous publications indicate why she has been a tireless voice for social justice causes such as the dynamics of race, social class, gender, and sexual equality, and also black feminist politics. In On Intellectual Activism, Collins asks scholars and public intellectuals to assess the meaning of their work. She challenges readers to rethink the potential of speaking truth to power, and examines both the role of the intellectual in public life and how well questions of contemporary social issues are communicated to the public at large. The contents of this volume--public lectures, previously published pieces, interviews, and new essays-illustrate the important conceptual anchors of Collins' work and reflect on the major themes of her illustrious career. These timely and thought-provoking essays include topics ranging from black feminist thought, critical education, public sociology, and resisting racism to new visions for activist intellectuals. taken from Publisher Site.