Discourse: The Grabbing Back podcast

Extracts on the roots of Intersectional Feminism (Part 2)

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This month we are focusing on the Roots of Intersectionality and instead of one big conversation, we wanted to really reflect the diversity of voices and opinions that emerged with early African American feminists.

We have picked six extracts of text by some writers of the time, and invited on six guests to share their reflections on them. There’s so much richness of thought here and so we’ve divided this month’s episode into three mini episodes, so you can reflect on different pieces in your own time.

This (part 2) looks at extracts from bell hooks’ ‘Ain’t i a woman? Black Women and Feminism’ and from Audre Lorde’s ‘Sister Outsider’.

  • bell hooks is the pen name for Gloria Watkins, who was an American academic and social activist. She was prolific writer, and most of her works looked at the intersecting oppression caused by systems of race, gender and capitalism. ‘Ain’t i a woman?’ is a history of racism and sexism against black women, focusing on the specific misogyny faced by enslaved black women, and the historical legacy this left on black womanhood. The extract in the podcast reflects on why black woman did not get involved in the white feminist movement. Reflecting on this is Sophie Lewis, who is currently doing an MA at SOAS.
  • Audre Lorde was an academic and activist, but is perhaps most well known as a poet who tackled issues of racism, sexism, ablism and homophobia in her work. She described herself as "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet”. The podcast looks at one of her prose works, ‘Sister Outsider’ which is a collection of essays and speeches from her activism, published in 1984. The extract is taken from ‘Your silence will not protect you’ which argues for the importance of marginalised and oppressed communities to speak out. Reflecting on this is Jess Leigh.
  • In her reflection, Jess mentions some cases of violence against women, including Sandra Bland, Kathryn Johnstone, Breonna Taylor. If you are unfamiliar with these cases, but would like to know more here are some links you can check out:

    • https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/07/sandra-bland-video-footage-arrest-death-police-custody-latest-news

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Kathryn_Johnston

    https://www.nytimes.com/article/breonna-taylor-police.html

    Trigger warnings: violence against women and racial violence.


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    Discourse: The Grabbing Back podcastBy Grabbing Back