Jordyn Young

Amy Stambach/Selah Agaba

Anthro 104, Outline
16 April 2018
Shapeshifters: Black Girls and the Choreography of Citizenship

Thesis: Aimee Meredith Cox interpolates a choreography trope into her ethnography
Shapeshifters illustrating how the young black female body shifts social experience away from
societal hierarchy.

 Aimee Meredith Cox trails the course of black girls living in a homeless shelter in Detroit
and notes the effects that the shelter’s programs have had on the girls and those close to
them in relation to self-evaluation on their social status.
o Over the course of eight years of ethnographic fieldwork, Cox has discovered that
the girls in the Fresh Start Shelter (pseudonym), ages fifteen to twenty-two, in a
low-income urban community are able to challenge their ranking of social order.
 Despite their seemingly indistinguishable mark in the community, fighting
through poverty, racism, and gender segregation to be seen, these girls aim
to sculpt their own futures by expressing themselves through presentation.
 Detroit’s History has led to an automatic social response of being a
black woman.
 An emotional bond has been uniquely created between the girls
causing reevaluation of love as they discovered it through their
second family.
o The methods from the Fresh Start Shelter’s workshops, particularly arts such as
dance and poetry, exhibit the transformation of what Cox refers to as
choreography.
 The girls are able to use their performative strategies to climb the
corporate ladder, despite their segregated background.
 Anthropology, Black Studies, and Performance Studies intersect within the research of
Aimee Meredith Cox.
o She is an associate Professor in the departments of African American Studies and
Anthropology at Yale University as of July 1, 2017.
 She earned her PhD and M.A. in cultural anthropology from the
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and her B.A. with honors from Vassar
College.
 Additionally, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the
University of Michigan with the Center for the Education of
Women.
o This monograph won a 2016 Victor Turner Book prize in Ethnographic Writing as
well as an Honorable mention from the 2016 Gloria E. Anzaldua Book Prize from
the NWSA.
 She is a recipient of the 2017-18 Virginia C. Gildersleeve Professorship
from Barnard College.
 Shapeshifters is her only published ethnography currently, though she is in
the process of her next project, Living Past Slow Death.

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 o Cox has a strong history with dance and is a choreographer.
 She danced professionally with a scholarship from the Dance Theater of
Harlem and toured with Alvin Ailey Ensemble.
 Many takeaways from her dancing career have been revealed through the
works of her latest ethnographic projects, including this book.
 She is the founder of The BlackLight Project, a youth activist
organization partnering with the Sadie Nash Leadership Project.
 chapter 1
o Cox tells the stories of three generations of the Brown Family.
o The first story is about Janice’s grandmother Bessie Brown which also includes
Janice’s mother and aunts.
o Cox then talks about Janice and her cousins as the third generation of the Brown
family.
 chapter 2
o The chapter talks about Camille and how she becomes the executive director of
the Give Girls a Chance (GGC).
o Camille makes many changes in the shelter including renovations and
improvement projects.
o Camille’s efforts are more than just remaking the shelter but to also makeover the
residents.
o Protests do come about in this chapter.

 chapter 3
o In this chapter there is a story about a trip to a dude ranch in Ohio that lasts one
week.
o After the retelling of the story the chapter turns into an analysis of the narrative
and the protest that happened in the early stages of Fresh Start.
o The protest is told creatively by the stories of the residents of Fresh Start.
 chapter 4
o This chapter touches on gender and sexuality within the Fresh Start shelter.
o This chapter shows how gender and sexuality standardizes the lives of young
black women.
o It also talks about the norms of gender and sexuality.
o The readers get to hear the story of Dominique who is an out lesbian, and she is
greatly adored by the residents and staff at the shelter.
o We are introduced to the social benefits depending on perceived gender.
 chapter 5
o The Move Experiment, at the shelter, comprised of the young Black women that
served as peer educators to engage the community and create political
conversions through their performances.
o These performance expressed each of their lives and the need to be seen by others
in a way that is not expressed on the media or in stereotypes that reference Black
males and White females.
 Aimee Meredith Cox interpolates a choreography trope into her ethnography
Shapeshifters illustrating how the young black female body shifts social experience away
from societal hierarchy.

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 o Larger stories throughout the book intertwine with many anthropological
concepts.
 Racial, ethnic, and gender stratification lingers throughout the entire
ethnography.
 None of the girls made it through high school; their jobs were to
nurture the family at home.
 Intersectionality reflects the disadvantages of being a young black woman
in poverty; hardships control these women.
 Cultural citizenship is shown through Bessie Brown: she came from
Alabama to Detroit in the mid-1960s as part of the late migration. Bessie
and her sisters became a part of society in Detroit that was primarily
Black, low income, and to whom deindustrialization was beginning to
have a great impact on.
 Embodiment is shown through the dances, especially during the Move
Experiment. The choreography allows the young women to feel confident
in their own bodies and express themselves in a way they want to be
recognized with no relation to race or gender.
 Sexuality can be seen in both the group and in the individuals as it can be
influenced by desires and behaviors.
 These young women have a desire to have a positive role and be
accepted in society, they dream for themselves, and behave to
succeed despite their hardships.
 Gender is a clearly identified concept as these young women come from
families that happen to be of only one parent, and therefore as children,
they grow up seeing and reciprocating both gender roles on what needs to
be done.
o I personally would recommend this ethnography for Anthropology 104.
 Cox does an excellent job of portraying the hardship of social expectations
on those who are hot high up on the scale of hierarchy. Multiple concepts
and issues with real life examples of what we have learned in class can be
found throughout this read.

End note for Selah:

Hi Selah,

I just wanted to apologize because I was a bit short on time with completing this outline. I
got the book through amazon after break and just finished reading it a few days ago. I also had an
exam today and one coming up on Wednesday, as well as one last week, so I had to dedicate
most of my time to studying for those. I completed this outline, but not nearly to the detail that I
would have wished to. As soon as my exam is over Wednesday, I will go over this and
completely reanalyze it. I have many more paraphrases to add in, as well as many specific quotes
from the book that I have picked to select from and video quotes from Aimee Meredith Cox
herself in the Transformation Marathon of 2015 where she reviewed this ethnography. I really
look forward to creating a thorough report. That being said, I know it is currently a bit broad and

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 you still have to grade it nevertheless; I just wanted to let you know that I do have full intentions
for there to be a great amount of improvement shortly. If it is easier for you, you do not have to
make comments as I will send you the better copy in a few days to have you look over.

Thanks!
Jordyn Young

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