Phyllisa Deroze // Kimberly R. Myers (editor). Breast Cancer Inside Out: Bodies, Biographies & Beliefs. Peter Lang Press, 2021. ISBN: 9781788747356, $82.95, E-book. It is a rare treasure to find a book that provides such rich and in-depth perspectives into the lives of people experiencing breast cancer. Kimberly R. Myers’ latest book, Breast Cancer Inside…
Author: PhyllisaDeroze
A Review of Diabetes: A History of Race & Disease
Phyllisa Deroze // As a humanities scholar with interest in the experiences of people with diabetes, I was eager to read Arleen Tuchman’s book Diabetes: A History of Race & Disease (2020). The book reads like a journey through time, each chapter uncovering new information about how American constructions of race have impacted diabetes research, treatment, diagnoses,…
The Photograph: Exposing the Hypocrisy of the Strong Black Woman Myth
Phyllisa Deroze // It is not that Black women have not been and are not strong; it is simply that this is only part of our story, a dimension, just as the suffering is another dimension one that had been most unnoticed and unattended to. bell hooks, Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black[1] Stella Meghie’s…
Hester La Negrita’s Illness Narrative
Phyllisa Deroze // In the Blood (1999), written by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, has received a myriad of critical acclaim and scholarly criticism. This essay is an excerpt from a larger project that I am working on that aims to expand current discussions about the intersectionality of illness narratives, literary studies, and racialized bodies….
Black Maternal Health Week: A Movement in Motion
Phyllisa Deroze// As an African American woman who has never met my paternal grandmother because she died from postpartum hemorrhaging, and as a mother who is writing this essay while recovering from my third postpartum reconstructive surgery to repair the preventable damage caused during the birth of my daughter, I am elated to observe the…
From Denial to Acceptance: Black-ish Portrays a Type 2 Diabetes Diagnosis Journey
Phyllisa Deroze // Dre Johnson, the protagonist on the television series Black-ish, is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in season four. While the ninth episode, entitled “Sugar Daddy,” is another example of the award-winning sitcom’s exceptional ability to overlap comedy with serious topics relevant to African Americans, such as Juneteenth and the Black Lives Matter…