Describe feminism
Challenges social hierarchies that are built along the lines of sex and gender
What does feminism aim to do?
1) DESCRIBE & EXPLAIN how sex and gender structure our experiences, roles and opportunities
2) PROVIDE TOOLS for challenging unjust hierarchies
Describe black feminism
Challenges social hierarchies that are built along the lines of sex and gender
AND RACE AND CLASS
What does black feminist theory aim to do?
1) DESCRIBE & EXPLAIN how sex, gender, race and class structure the experiences, roles and opportunities OF BLACK WOMEN
2) PROVIDE TOOLS for challenging unjust hierarchies THAT AFFECT BLACK WOMEN’S LIVES
3) CHALLENGE intersecting social oppressions along lines of race, gender, class, religion etc.
Who discusses why we need intersectional feminism and what do they say?
Kimberle Crenshaw, a leading scholar of critical race theory
- Unjust discrimination is thought to produce privilege and disadvantage along a single categorical axis (e.g. white men over white women)
- But the experience of oppressed groups is often multidimensional
Crenshaw’s quote for what intersectional discrimination is
“The intersectional experience is greater than the sum of racism and sexism”
Expand on Crenshaw’s quote for intersectional discrimination
- Your experience of race is structured by your gender (class, etc.) and your experience of gender is structured by your race
- Sometimes black women will experience discrimination similar to that of white women and black men, sometimes they’ll experience “double discrimination” on the basis of both gender and race, and sometimes they will experience discrimination SPECIFICALLY AS A BLACK WOMAN. Not the sum of race and sex, but because they are a black woman.
Crenshaw’s quote to conclude intersectional discrimination
“An analysis does not take intersectionality into account cannot sufficiently address the particular manner in which black women are subordinated.”
What does Crenshaw think failure to adopt intersectional framework leads to? (2 + quote)
- Anti-racists focusing on racial discrimination of POC who also happen to be sex/class privileged
- Feminists focusing on gender discrimination suffered by women who are race or class privileged
- This “creates experiences that represent only a subset of a more distorted analysis of racism and sexism”
Crenshaw’s final quote for failing to adopt intersectional feminism
“Marginalises those who are multiply-burdened and obscures claims that cannot be understood as resulting from discrete sources of discrimination.”
What is critical social theory?
Black feminist theory aims to use black women’s social knowledge to challenge racial injustice
Who is Patricia Collins and what does she explore?
She is:
- Professor of Psychology, Uni of Maryland
- 100th president of American Sociological Association
She explores whether the black woman’s thoughts have been oppressed
What is Patricia Hill Collin’s central claim?
Black women’s voices have been suppressed
How does Patricia Hill Collin’s describe the economic dimension? (3)
- Vast majority of black women were brought to the states as slaves in situation of oppression
- Subsequent structures of opportunity have meant that vast majority of black women have been trapped in low-paid, low-status work
- Survival for most black women has been such an all-consuming activity that they have had few opportunities to do intellectual work
Patricia Hill Collins’ argument, P1-5
WHY their thoughts aren’t expressed in academia
P1) Black women have important social and political ideas
P2) These ideas are often not expressed through academic language
P3) Ideas not expressed through language of an academy/discipline are usually ignored by that academy/discipline
P4) Ignoring voices can have effect of communicating that they are inferior
P5) If our voices are systematically seen as inferior, this can have the effect of suppressing them
Patricia Hill Collins’ argument, P6-9 + CONC
WHAT their thoughts not being expressed in academia means for the rest of us
P6) Academic communities play important role in shaping social ideals and validating certain experiences
P7) Bc of the aforementioned social injustice, black women’s ideas are often not expressed in the academy
P8) Ppl have responsibility to work for justice and impose injustice
P9) We have a responsibility, based on duties of justice to make black womens’ voices heard in the academy
CONC: Standard academic theory problematically contributes to the suppression of black women’s voices
3 purposes of black feminist thought
1) Reclaim black women’s subjugated knowledge
2) Recognise that black women have had valuable social ideas which have not been given a voice
3) Attempt to reclaim these voices
What 4 tasks does Collins think black feminist thought needs to do?
1) Analyse historical black women’s thought, often for the first time
2) Analyse the thought of people from marginalised subgroups (e.g. black lesbians)
3) Reinterpret canonical works through the lens of black feminism
4) Deconstruct assumptions about who counts as an intellectual
