Scars

A Black Lesbian Experience in Rural White New England

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Scars is a novel about whiteness, racism, and breaking past the normative boundaries of heterosexuality, as experienced through eighteen year old Savannah Penelope Sales. Savannah is a Black girl, born and raised in a white, working class, and rural New England town. She is in denial of her lesbian sexuality, harbors internalized racism about her body, and is ashamed of being poor. She lives with her ailing mother whose Emphysema is a symptom of a mysterious past of suffering and sacrifice that Savannah is not privy to. When Savannah takes her first trip to a major metropolitan city for two days, she never imagines how it will affect her return back home to her mother … or her capacity to not only love herself, but also those who she thought were her enemies.
Scars is about the journey of friends and family who love Savannah and try to help her heal, all while they too battle their own wounds and scars of being part of multiple systems of oppression and power. Ultimately, Scars makes visible the psychological trauma and scarring that legacies of colonialism have caused to both the descendants of the colonized and the colonizer … and the potential for healing and reconciliation for everyone willing to embark on the journey.
As a work of social fiction born out of years of critical race, Black feminist, and critical whiteness studies scholarship, Scars engages the reader to think about USA culture through the lenses of race, whiteness, working-class sensibilities, sexual orientation, and how rural geography influences identity.
Scars can be used as a springboard for discussion, self-reflection and social reflection for students enrolled in American Studies, Sociology, Women’s Studies, Sexuality Studies, African American Studies, human geography, LGBTQ studies and critical whiteness studies courses, or it can be read entirely for pleasure.

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Preliminary Material
Pages: i–xiv
Preface
Pages: 1–4
Chapter One
Pages: 5–10
Chapter Two
Pages: 11–16
Chapter Three
Pages: 17–23
Chapter Four
Pages: 25–35
Chapter Five
Pages: 37–61
Chapter Six
Pages: 63–67
Chapter Seven
Pages: 69–82
Chapter Eight
Pages: 83–89
Chapter Nine
Pages: 91–106
Chapter Ten
Pages: 107–111
Chapter Eleven
Pages: 113–117
Chapter Twelve
Pages: 119–138
Chapter Thirteen
Pages: 139–144
Chapter Fourteen
Pages: 145–156
Chapter Fifteen
Pages: 157–179
Chapter Sixteen
Pages: 181–185
Chapter Seventeen
Pages: 187–200
Chapter Eighteen
Pages: 201–205
Chapter Nineteen
Pages: 207–210
Epilogue
Pages: 211–216
A. Breeze Harper has a BA in feminist geography, from Dartmouth College, a MA in Educational Technologies from Harvard University, and a PhD from the University of California, Davis, where she studied applications of critical race feminism, critical whiteness studies, and critical food studies within cultural geography. Harper is also the author of the book, Sistah Vegan: Black Female Vegans Speak on Food, Identity, Health, and Society (Lantern Books 2010).
www. abreezeharper.com
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