Knowing in Space: Three Lessons from Black Women's Social Theory
labrys, études féministes/estudos feministas janvier/juin 2013 - janeiro/junho 2013
23 Pages Posted: 26 May 2013
Date Written: May 26, 2013
Abstract
In attempting to create a US Black feminist philosophy, I have uncovered three lessons in US Black women’s social theory. They are the following: 1) oppression is a multistable, social phenomenon; 2) many US Black women identify occupying a negative, socio-epistemic space as part of their experience of oppression; and 3) addressing oppression for many Black women will require grappling with politics of social spatiality. These insights are by no means new. However, the fact that these tropes can be identified in almost 200 years of Black women's social theory in the US is far more distinctive than many allow.
Keywords: Intersectionality, Multistability of Oppression, Socio-Epistemic Space, and Politics of Social Spatiality, US Black Feminist Philosophy, The Combahee River Collective, Fannie Barrier Williams, and Anna Julia Cooper
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