Body Language: Sisters in Shape, Black Women's Fitness, and Feminist Identity Politics

“In Body Language, Kimberly Lau adeptly draws the reader into the Sisters in Shape culture, whose central players emerge as multidimensional beings. The author’s personal and extended connection with the group provides rich detail as to its origins, day-to-day activities, and impact on Black women looking not to embody familiar health statistics. The ‘discursive’ focus of the text is novel, and explores the reworkings of identity and body that Sisters in Shape enable through talk and action.”
—Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant, Associate Professor of Sociology and Education Studies at DePauw University, and author of Behind the Mask of the Strong Black Woman (Temple)

Kimberly J. Lau is Professor of Literature and American Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is the author of New Age Capitalism: Making Money East of Eden.