Anti-Racist Feminism is characterized by an intersectional approach that asks: In a world permeated by structures of domination and oppression how do such social constructs as racism and sexism interact? To paraphrase this question in practical terms we might ask, how does an aboriginal woman experience sexism compared to a woman who enjoys white privilege? In short, anti-racist feminism approaches the subject of oppression as one that involves two interlocking structures of domination (‘sex’ and ‘race’) and, as such, has much in common with such traditions as Ecofeminism which aims at exploring the relationship between sexism and anthropocentrism.
As the name suggests, anti-racism is implicitly based on the rejection of the
multicultural approach which overwhelmingly focuses on the celebration of ‘difference’
and culture without challenging power and injustice. By asking us to tolerate
differences, the multicultural approach is incapable of going beyond the assumption
that human beings can be assigned to discrete groups which posses a natural
set of different characteristics.
It should be noted that, broadly speaking, two approaches exist in anti-racist
feminist practice. The first takes it for granted that race and sex have been
constructed and that, as such, race and sex have analytical and conceptual use-value.
From this perspective, the world operates as if race and sex possessed ontological
currency and that the consequences of racism are real and must be confronted
as such. It is, therefore, up to theorists and activists to offer assistance
and to participate in solidarity with excluded minority groups even if they
recognize that they might not share a common oppression (after all, anti-racist
feminism forces us to acknowledge that black women experience sexism differently
from white women). This approach may be characterized by bell hooks challenge
to “not despair about the capacity of white folks to divest of white supremacy”
[1] and to her invitation for the recognition of solidarity among “[w]omen
and men of all races who are committed to [the] revolutionary feminist movement”.
[2]
The second approach attempts to dismantle racist and sexist hierarchies by interrogating
the scientific validity of such concepts as ‘race’ and ‘sex.’
It thus argues for a deconstruction of the categories in question while acknowledging
that a multiplicity of identities requires that we understand each identity
on its own terms (as opposed to in terms of categorical classification). Joining
‘black women’ in order to promote a ‘global sisterhood’
is seen as a problematic solution to the problem of oppression. From this approach,
such political strategies can only succeed in essentializing identities and
leading to a fixed polarization of socially constructed concepts such as race
and sex. This approach is more in line with postmodern analysis and as such
is politically oriented to coalition building and temporary, short term alliances.
Not surprisingly, anti-racist feminism has stimulated a productive line of inquiry
that has resulted in the confrontation and examination of such issues as: black
women’s employment, the social construction of minority women’s
sexuality, feminist representations of non-western women, the uses of the veil
among Muslim women, and the meaning and implication of family, immigration,
rights, and citizenship for white and non-white women alike. It has also encouraged
a re-thinking of such concepts as ‘race’ and ‘sex’ and
the implications that result from their evocation in political practice.
Black feminism
Cross-issue solidarity
Ecofeminism
Groundless solidarity
Infinite responsibility
Intersectional analysis
Transnational Feminism
African Ancestral Lesbians United for Societal Change (AALUSC)
Anarchist People of Color (APOC)
Anti-Racist Action (ARA)
Guerrilla Girls
Kum-Kum Bhavnani
Agnes Calliste
Maria Castagna
Enakshi Dua
Usha George
Patricia Hill-Collins
Margaret Coulson
bell hooks
Gerda Lerner
Gail Lewis
Audre Lorde
Chandra Mohanty
Mary-Jo Nadeau
Sunera Thobani
Lola Young
Nira Yuval-Davis
Anti-Racist Action Network
http://www.aranet.org/pn/
Bolt, C. (2004). Sisterhood Questioned? Race, Class and Internationalism in the American and British Women’s Movements, c.1880s-1970s. New York: Routledge.
Bhavnani, K-K. (Ed.). (2001). Feminism & ‘Race’. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Calliste, A. and Dei, G. (Eds.). (2000). Anti-Racist Feminism. Halifax: Fernwood
Publishing
hooks, b. (1996). Killing Rage: Ending Racism. New York: Henry Hold and Company.
hooks, b. (1995). Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. Cambridge: South End
Press.
Ng, R., Staton, P., Scane, J. (Eds.). (1995). Antiracism, Feminism, and Critical
Approaches to Education. University of Toronto: OISE Press.
Sharma, N. R. (2000). “Race, Class, Gender and the Making of Difference:
The Social rganization of ‘Migrant Workers’ in Canada.” Atlantis.
24(2). 5-15.
Thobani, S. (2000). “Closing the Nation’s Door to Immigrant Women:
The Restructuring of Canadian Immigration Policy.” Atlantis. 24 (2). 16-26.
Notes:
1. hooks, b. 107.
2. Ibid., 105.