EARLY WOMEN OF COLOR FEMINISM

Intersectionality & Difference, Part I

WGSS 318: Module 1-2

Dr. Macías
LEARNING MODULE 1-2 OBJECTIVES, PART I
➤ Understand the differences between “identity” and
“subjectivity”
➤ Consider the various meanings of the identity “woman of
color” and thus who might be left out of this construction
➤ Observe some of the historical context that leads to the
emergence of women of color critiques of ethnic-
nationalism & mainstream feminism
➤ Visualize intersectionality as a theory, or “analytic
disposition” (not an identity)
➤ Identify key terms like ideology, ethnic nationalism, &
intersectionality
➤ Acknowledge the history between present and past women
of color feminist efforts for social change
GUIDING QUESTIONS FOR MODULE 1-2, PART I
➤ How is “woman of color” defined? Who is imagined? Who
might not qualify as “woman of color”?
➤ What do “race” “gender” “sexuality” and “class” mean?
➤ How do social categories of difference intersect and interact?
➤ Where is power in society located? What forces are the
authors citing as powerful?
➤ What have women of color confronted as they work to
develop subjectivities and become agents of their own lives?
➤ What links can we draw between these early movements and
current debates about feminism, intersectionality, and women
of color in the US?
INTERSECTIONALITY REVIEWED: A THEORY, NOT AN IDENTITY
➤ All of the social categories we are assigned at birth have a historical and
contemporary significance that impact our lives today.
➤ Intersectionality is a concept that recognizes the ways that these
assigned “social categories”—race, class, gender, sexuality, ability,
nation, religion, etc—intersect/overlap to create socio-political-legal
privilege in some instances and oppression in others.
➤ As a theory, intersectionality shows how individuals are impacted by
intersecting social identities—racial, gender, class, sexuality, etc.—in
both society’s core institutions and in their everyday lives.
➤ Intersectionality is a critical framework, or a lens, that we can use to see
and analyze social problems like poverty, media stereotypes, or the
biases in our criminal justice system.
On the next two pages, note the visual relationship between ascribed
identity, social structures/institutions, & the resulting oppressions that
interlock when thinking through a theory of intersectionality.
 Racism
Nativism/
Ageism
Citizenism

Heterosexism/
Classism/
Homophobia
Transphobia Imperialism
Multidimensional
Ableism Fat-ism
Struggle
Religious/
Colorism Spiritual
oppression

Patriarchy/
Sexism Xenophobia
NOW THAT WE HAVE A SHARED SENSE THAT
INTERSECTIONALITY IS A THEORY AND NOT AN IDENTITY OR
A PARTICULAR STATE OF FEMINISM, LET’S TURN TO
ROJAS’S BOOK, WOMEN OF COLOR & FEMINISM
 Dr. Maythee Rojas
Professor of Chicano and Latino Studies
CSULB
IDENTITY VERSUS SUBJECTIVITY
➤ Identity is about the social markers of difference ascribed to us by
institutions
➤ Do we have a choice which identities we are
ascribed socially?
➤ No, social identities are ascribed, or assigned to us.
➤ Subjectivity is about a sense of ourselves that we hope to achieve; not
prescribed by essentialist ideas about identity
➤ Our subjectivities attempt to deconstruct powerful identity
norms
“Being able to consciously reflect on our lives and take control of
our daily actions allows us to gain subjectivity, but it is easy to lose
this sense of control in light of the myriad social identities that
typically subsume us.”
(Rojas, 3)
Think about a time when your identity constrained
you.
Think about a time when you asserted your
subjectivity.
What were the differences? How did you feel in each
situtation?
 Key Terms

Ethnic nationalism: Shared beliefs and sometimes a

movement for specific racial/ethnic group’s self-
determination; i.e. the Black Panther Party, the Brown
Berets, the American Indian Movement, etc.

Manifesto: A public declaration of policy and aims, especially

one issued by a political party or a collective

Discourse: Written or spoken communication and debate;

expresses power relations in the social world
 Key Terms

Ideology: a system of ideas about particular concepts

Includes frameworks that different classes and social
groups use to make sense of, define, & figure out the
way society works

”Family” “Immigrant” “Gender” for example, are socially

understood by dominant ideologies
i.e. dominant ideology of “family”: comprised of a
heterosexual father, mother, and their biological
children
CHERRIE MORAGA & KATE RUSHIN

➤ Moraga explores the process of writing This

Bridge Called My Back, a book by and for
women of color & the first of its kind ever
published.

➤ Rushin’s poem comments on the pain of

racialized gender identity and constantly
having to translate her experiences to folks
who do not share her identity

➤ The body and emotion are very meaningful to

both authors

➤ Bridges become metaphors of women of

color’s existence; serving to connect
communities across difference; enduring the
vulnerability and effects of this bridging work

➤ Quote that summarizes Moraga: “I want a

movement that helps me make sense of the
trip from Watertown to Roxbury, from white to
Black…” (7).

➤ Quote that summarizes Rusin, “This bridge I

must be is the bridge to my own power” (xxxiv).
CRITICAL TAKE-AWAYS
➤ Women of color early on stressed their experiences of
subordination, which related to how systems of oppression based on
gender, race, class, and sexuality overlapped.
➤ The links show how women of color are knowledge producers; they
are not only identifying as women of color, but are creating
frameworks for how to study the experiences of racialized, gendered
communities in the U.S.
➤ Some women of color’s historical significance is hidden due to their
non-heterosexual sexuality and/or non-cisgender identity.
➤ Women of color critique that mainstream feminism & ethnic
nationalisms do not address their gender in relation to racial, ethnic,
class, non-heterosexual, and national identity frameworks.
➤ Contemporary feminists of color acknowledge that their work is
only possible because of the work of earlier feminists of color.