This study by Caldwell (African and Afro-American studies, U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) investigates the relationship between cultural and political dimensions of citizenship in Brazil in order to understand the social, political, and cultural processes that have shaped the marginalization and disenfranchisement of Afro-Brazilian women. She is also centrally concerned with how Afro-Brazilian women's political activism has sought to redefine the political dimensions of citizenship by influencing state policies and the definition of rights in the legal-juridical sphere. She uses ethnography and life histories as a window into how black women's social identities are negotiated and constructed, focusing on the experiences of self-defined activists in racial and gender justice social movements versus the experiences of black women not involved in social movements. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)