Jennifer Nash’s introduction to Black Feminism Reimagined, “Feeling Black Feminism”, gives a detailed analysis and overview of the history and function of the term “intersectionality” in academic institutions. When detailing the intellectual history of intersectionality, Nash posits that what has made the term “intersectionality” so important is its “…capacity to allow its reader to imagine …
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Boxer, “For and About Women”
In “For and About Women: The Theory and Practice of Women’s Studies in the United States,” Marilyn Boxer outlines the history, political issues and structures of women’s studies disciplines and programs in United States universities. My initial reaction from reading this piece is that I’m struck by the history of the women’s studies department. Even …
Post Class Reflection 2/14
During class, we discussed readings by Jo Freeman, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Deborah Gould, and Grace Kyungwon Hong. Initially, we discussed how we felt about the readings and how they resonated with us. It was noted from Freeman’s writing that the informal structure of movements can lead to abuse of power and how some of the …
Solidarity and Its Fracturing
A quote from this reading that stuck out to me was, “Conflicts do not destroy movements (330).” Gould follows this by explaining that it’s the dimensions of the conflict that determines whether or not a movement survives through the conflict, not necessarily the conflict itself. I thought that this was an important thing to note, …
The Tyranny of Structurelessness
The purpose of this piece is to address the idea of “structurelessness” as the only form of organization within the women’s liberation movement. While it started out as a healthy counter to the rigid structure of mainstream society, the ideology has become just as inflexible and limiting. Freeman is trying to examine why structurelessness doesn’t …
Hong, “Solidarity and Strife: Third World Feminists in Conflict”
Hong’s article takes a look at the ways in which conflict can be interpreted as something which can be utilized so as to centralize the different analytics and tactics of women of color feminists. Conflict, according to Hong, is not something which should be avoided but rather as something which is necessary for progression and …
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Coalition Politics: Turning the Century by Bernice Johnson Reagon
The purpose of this speech seems to be about activists encompassing their whole identities, like women of color, while working with others, like white women, within coalition work. Reagon points out that there is no such thing as just a woman. There are other defining parts of each person, whether it is their sexuality, race, …
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TRASHING: The Dark Side of Sisterhood
“In the back of my head there is a pervasive, irrational certainty that says if I stick my neck out, it will once again be a lightning rod for hostility,” writes Joreen Freeman in her opening passage of TRASHING. This is an occurring issue for feminist everywhere—the conflict that arises when telling your truth risks …
Post-class reflection
The generalized premise of the articles we read this week is that emotionality is fundamental to feminism, as well as other activist movements. In particular, there was consistent approval of feeling angry, and using that anger to fuel an activist life. The first thing that I noted from class is how everyone seemed to deeply …
Feminism is Sensational
FIn Sara Ahmed’s reading, Feminism is Sensational, she conveys the importance of wanting to address the individual process of coming to feminism. She revealed her personal experiences of feminism and what it means to her not only as a theoretical framework; however, as a way that feminism is acted upon an embodied “sensational” occurrence. For …