The conversation on corporeality will be followed by a discussion of Assata Shakur’s autobiography on week five. I believe the discussion of this book to be an apt midway-through pause from the theoretical readings as well as a good way to tie the discussion on feminism and praxis initiated during weeks one and two, with issues of corporeality. As Shakur herself states:
Any Black person in amerika, if they are honest with themselves, have got to come to the conclusion that they don’t know what it feels like to be free. We aren’t free politically, economically, or socially. We have very little power over what happens in our lives. In fact, a Black person in amerika isn’t even free to walk down the street. Walk down the street, in the wrong …show more content…
For this reason, I found that the discussion of her autobiography could be followed by a conversation on anger, injustice and transmissions of trauma. From the voices of Black and Latina scholars, we will engage with the uses of anger in fighting against injustice. Furthermore, Saidiya Hartman’s Lose Your Mother, as a combination of personal narrative and research, provides a smooth transition into the political implications of the recent ontological turn to affect in feminist and queer theory. The conversation on affect also seemed crucial for this course in terms of navigating the relevance of political depression in present times. In light of the discussion on the justice system that I anticipate the class to have during this week, I felt that an introductory course on Women and Gender Studies would not be complete without having a conversation on intersectionality. Therefore, during our seventh week we will be strictly focusing on Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality. Aside from reading Crenshaw, we will also engage with Jennifer C. Nash’s “Institutionalizing the Margins” and Brittney Cooper’s “Intersectionality.” We will not only study the context and the origins of the theory of intersectionality but will also delve into some of the critiques that have been made about intersectionality. In this sense, Cooper’s text is incredibly valuable in that it provides an overview of the debates …show more content…
This is a text that I know very well and that I consider to be pivotal for the study of feminist theory. Writing from an intersection of identities—and languages—Anzaldúa does a marvelous job of linking the discussion of intersectionality, the affective, mobility, identity issues and the binaries previously discussed. Some of the points/questions that I imagine posing in class with regards to this book are: the undoing of binaries as far as genres (narrative + prose), and languages (English, Spanish, and Nahuatl) and its effects, what are the possible ramifications of a society that moves beyond binary labels? Is this a tangible project? Could the model of the mestiza consciousness be used universally? Do you identify any limitations? In order to close out this conversation I would make the link to our next session, where we will be discussing Masculinity and Privilege, by emphasizing Anzaldúa’s assertion of the need for a new masculinity. She talks about present-day machismo as “the result of hierarchical male dominance” (83), and makes an explicit call to men: “we demand the admission/acknowledgement/disclosure/testimony that they wound us, violate us, are afraid of us and of our power […] But more than words, we demand acts” (84). Anzaldúa’s views will thus help create a bridge between Borderlands and the readings for the following week, starting with bell hooks’ “Men: