Multiracial Feminism

Feminism, Multiracial women’s organizations as well as sexism in
mixed-gender organizations. While contin-

CHERESE D. CHILDERS-MCKEE and SILVIA
uing to work within these organizations,
C. BETTEZ
women of color also formed separate coali-
University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA
tions of their own such as the Third World
Women’s Alliance, Hijas de Cuauhtemoc,
Women of color have, for decades, challenged Asian Sisters, Women of All Red Nations,
theories that separated discussions of race and and Combahee River Collective (Thompson
gender and actively confronted mainstream 2002). While some scholars locate the origins
(white, middle-class) feminists’ discomfort of multiracial feminism within the second
with discussions of racial power differences. and third waves of feminism, others con-
Although women of color were engaged in tend that the “wave” metaphor works to
activism during the first, second, and third marginalize and conceal the ways in which
“waves” of feminism, much of their schol- the race and gender activism of women of
arly work was dismissed and overlooked by color has developed alongside and influ-
mainstream feminists (Thompson 2002). enced mainstream feminism (Springer 2002).
Multiracial feminism, a movement started Therefore, multiracial feminism should not
in the 1970s and led by US-based women of be seen as an add-on to mainstream fem-
color, explicitly links equity for women with inism; rather, it developed simultaneously
the need to understand how race operates as and has directly influenced discussions of
an interlocking power system with gender diversity in second-wave feminism as well
inequity and other forms of oppression (Zinn as the political awakening of women in
and Dill 1996). third-wave feminism (Snyder 2008). The
Multiracial feminism foregrounds a dis- anthology This Bridge Called My Back: Writ-
cussion of racism, colonialism, imperialism, ings by Radical Women of Color (Moraga
and sexism, and problematizes the main- and Anzaldúa 1981)—written by and for
stream feminist idea of gender unity—the black, Latina/Chicana, Native American, and
belief that all women have a common set of Asian American women—is considered a
experiences. Instead, multiracial feminists cornerstone of multiracial feminism.
centralize racial stratification in theories of Historically, multiracial feminists have
gender oppression. Multiracial feminists, also straddled a border between striving to name
known by some as third-world feminists, particular race-based feminist issues and
acknowledge the fluidity and constructedness working to not be essentialized. While writing
of race, gender, and nation categories, there- in solidarity with each other, group-specific
fore creating transnational, cultural, racial issues were simultaneously brought to the fore
alliances based in a shared struggle against through scholarship and activism. African
race, class, and gender oppression (Mohanty American multiracial feminists frequently
1991). illuminated stereotypical positionings of
As early as the late 1960s, women of color black women’s bodies (as matriarchical
in the United States confronted marginal- and hypersexualized, etc.) used to justify
ization and racism in mainstream national
The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism, First Edition.
Edited by John Stone, Rutledge M. Dennis, Polly S. Rizova, Anthony D. Smith, and Xiaoshuo Hou.
© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118663202.wberen234
2 F E M I N I SM , M U LT I R AC IA L
oppressive practices. Asian American women women of color feminist writers are resisting
documented the role of US military in such self-naming. Puar’s (2012) latest work
sexual abuse and general stereotypes of on assemblage deprivileges the human body.
Asian women as passive and exotic. Latinas/ While intersectionality emphasizes patterns
Chicanas often highlighted immigration and grids, assemblage, with its focus on
issues, challenged patriarchal gender roles, intricate configurations of self, makes defin-
and critiqued binary (black/white) con- ing a standpoint difficult if not impossible.
ceptions of racial politics. Native women Keeping concepts of intersectionality and
concentrated on sovereignty and land assemblage in tension with each other might,
rights, genocide, sterilization, and cultural Puar argues, help us better understand power
exploitation. White antiracist feminists, relationships.
considering themselves multiracial feminists
as well, worked in solidarity with women SEE ALSO: Black Feminist Thought; Immig-
rant Smuggling; Immigrant Women;
of color in antiracist, anti-imperialist orga-
Intersectionality
nizations and movements. This scholarship
and activism inherently highlights connec-
tions between race and gender oppression;
REFERENCES
however, women of color have also written
Collins, Patricia Hill. 1991. Black Feminist Thought:
specifically about these intersections. Partic-
Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of
ularly noteworthy is black feminist Patricia Empowerment. New York: Routledge.
Hill Collins’s (1991) concept of “the matrix of Crenshaw, Kimberlé Williams. 1989. “De-
domination,” explaining that various forms marginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex:
of privilege (e.g., race, gender, class, ethnicity, A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimina-
sexual orientation) always exist in relation to tion Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist
each other, intersecting in complex, power- Politics.” University of Chicago Legal Forum
ful ways. Intersectional analysis (Crenshaw 1989: 139–67.
Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. 1991. “Introduction:
1989) is now deemed crucial in most feminist
Cartographies of Struggle: Third World Women
work. Additionally, the voices of women of and the Politics of Feminism.” In Third World
color have expanded to more prominently Women and the Politics of Feminism, edited by
include the voices of Arab Americans, South Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Ann Russo, and
Asian/Indian Americans, Muslim Ameri- Lourdes Torres, 1–47. Bloomington: Indiana
cans of various ethnicities, and multiracial University Press.
people. Mainstream feminism has become Moraga, Cherríe and Gloria Anzaldúa. 1981. This
Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical
more inter- and transnational through the
Women of Color. Watertown, MA: Persephone.
influences of multiracial feminism. Puar, Jasbir K. 2012. “‘I Would Rather Be a Cyborg
With the rise in postmodern theory, Than a Goddess’: Becoming-Intersectional in
“third-wave” feminists foreground intersec- Assemblage Theory.” philoSOPHIA: A Journal of
tional narratives and embrace multivocality Feminist Philosophy 2(1): 49–66.
(Snyder 2008); as such, the term “multiracial Snyder, R. Claire. 2008. “What Is Third-Wave Fem-
feminism” is diminishing given the growing inism? A New Directions Essay.” Signs 34(1):
175–96.
assumption that feminism should inherently
Springer, Kimberly. 2002. “Third Wave Black Fem-
incorporate analyses of various structures inism?” Signs 27(4): 1059–82.
of power, including race. Although stand- Thompson, Becky. 2002. “Multiracial Feminism:
point theory writings by women of color and Recasting the Chronology of Second Wave Fem-
antiracist white feminists continue, many inism.” Feminist Studies 28(2): 337–60.
F E M I N I SM , M U LT I R AC IA L 3
Zinn, Maxine Baca and Bonnie Thornton FURTHER READING

Dill. 1996. “Theorizing Difference from Anzaldúa, Gloria and AnaLouise Keating. 2002.
Multiracial Feminism.” Feminist Studies 22(2): This Bridge We Call Home: Radical Visions for
321–31. Transformation. New York: Routledge.

Multiracial Feminism

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Multiracial Feminism

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Multiracial Feminism

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Feminism, Multiracial women’s organizations as well as sexism in

mixed-gender organizations. While contin-

Zinn, Maxine Baca and Bonnie Thornton FURTHER READING

You might also like