Black and White Feminism,

a Post-Colonial Visión

MiREILLE Hutchjson*

¡l^e ¿ave e/jo.Krt each olhcranH l/ie ed¿e of each other's ballki,
tht ¡varis ihe ¡ame if we hse. Same daj women's bhod
willangea! upan a tieadplanel if m win ¡¿en ¿s no Uüag
weseek b^nd histoej Jbr o new and more postibk metliag

Bctnice Joluison Reagon

Abstract. This artickwill ana^^t ihe differtnces helwem the onefeminist theory? And, is diere a hope towards a
needs of all numen in the Nort/jandin ihe Soutb. lí mU United House?
examine Üje exclusión of coloreá women in Westernfeminism, This árdele is situated in tlic perspective of tiie
althoiigh not all-weslem mmen arewhite. ¡t will ana^sf tome Post-Colonial studies and will only try to point
domination issues mtbin thefeminisl movement, its reasons, and ouf part of the deconstrucdng and reconstructing
thepossibilities, Mtljin the conlext of Post ColonialSlndies. process regarding riie issue of a new paradigm in
die context of a possible global feminism.
InCroductioo
I. Development
The Post Colonia] literature had clearly two schools of
thoughts or rwo distinct theories regarding most studied ChandraMolíanty suggests that the first project is
topics, since history seems to have drown differences in oneof deconstructingand dismantíing, die second
the Black and Wltite communities, and time has not one of building and constructing and hopefully
necessanly been the best factor to narrow this gap. uniting- These two projeccs appear to be contra-
The available feminist literature is not exempted from dictory but unless we addcess diemsimultaneously,
these two distinct theones or two schools of tliou^ts, that Tliird Worid feminism run the risk of maiginaliza-
is related to the Black feminism and to tlie White feminism. tion or ghetroization from botli right and left and
Why? Is their histoty so different and canone speakabout from Western feminist disecarse.
what one dees not know? Can one speak for a group or Arun Mukherjee reckons that groups of women
just for one person? Is diere a real reason or excuse to who identify diemselves as women of Color,
have ignored one ancther or dominated a group as in the Native women, Third Worid women, African
case of American feminism? American women and Black women attacked
At the IV Forum on Women, in Beijing, China, 1995, tlieoretical constructions of the WhiteAmglo-American and
tfie discussions and panels were divided into geographic, White Frencli feminist theory as being imperialist, racist,
historical or cultural groups ratlier than themes! Should Eurocentric and exclusionary. However not all White
this suggest ro us tiiat women from different regionshave feminists seem to be aware of tliis crisis of legitimization,
differentneeds, representations and sources of oppression neither all Western feminists are white or middle ciass
and domination therefore different concerns and strategies? ñor forgot the oppression caused by class or racism.
Finally, in a Post-Colonialist period, are diere still die Therefore, tiiis arricie will onlyanalyses the differencesof
colonized people and the privileged ones? Or can we die two categories of feminism, considering mainly class.
considerdiat people arenai-rowing the gap between women
from the Third Worid and Western women, in order to readi * Vahersily of OlMwa, B-mnii mirei//e@aix¡.¡iól¡aiva.úi

CiENCIA EROO SUM 249

racism and gender. Terms like women's oppression, almost be extended to a complete village like it is often
representation of women, sexual differences or gender the case in Africa, is mostly unknown from White
subjectivity raised the objections bywomen of color as an feminists, or at the most not conrpletely understood.
exclusionary attention to middle-class White women. "...Black women as the least oppressive institution
conrmonly experience the family; radrer, it functions as a
II. White Feminism and Black Feminism site for shelter and resistance" (Stasiulis, 1991: 284).
Another criticism from the Black feminists is the
According to Stasiulis, the criticism of Wliite feminism concept of female financia! dependence on male wage
by Black feminists is based on the experience of native earners, which they regard as racially and culturally bound.
migrant, and racial minority women in the Canadian More often tiran VCdrite women they have had the solé
context. These two labels are a sign of the diversity of responsibility for earning income and supporting
class analysis and other social categorías. The omission dependants. In the West, women seem to be either
of analysis of racism in feminist historiography and so workingoutside their honre, or to be so called modrers at
cial science undermines their potential fot building home which is a temporary unpaid position, In many of
política! solidarity. As, finally, in the opinión of tlie writer, dre Third World countries, women go outside to work
tlie only possible solution and hope is to build política] whether or not they are mothers and regardless of the
solidarity, after dismantling and getting discarding the number or age of dre children, in that sense the term
histórica] prejudices. mothers at home does not apply in the context ñor their
White feminism means mainiy Western feminists, culture. As M. Devault explains in her arricie on Talktng
aitiiough not ah of them are white, who have ignored or andListeningfrom Women'sStandpoint, language can exelude
undermined race and etlinicity in tiie social divisions and certain categories drerefore we have to use words with
identities of tlie definition of Woman. By contrast Black greater imagination, in order to intégrate radrer than to
feminism means a growing literature, everywhere, diat exelude.
conveys and conceptualizes tire histórica] circumstances It may be considered a failure from the White feminists
of Black women and other women of color (Stasiulis, 1991: to define immigrarion and cirizenship as Women's issues.
282). The omission of women of color from White feminist The imnrigration policies havehad a destructive influence
analysis has in itself been regarded as reflective of tire racism in disallowing dre preservationof fanrily forms odrer thair
and ethnic exclusively of the White women's movement. dre nuclear families. Although it is difficult to draw the
PorMinh-Ha, thelabels of racial differences amongwomen line between serious problenrs due to heavy an inhuman
such as Western, non-Western or Third Wbrld takes the bureaucracy and puré sexism.
dominant group as reference, and they reflect strongly Aboriginal women in Cairada have echoed many Black
the ideology of dominance. So tire V(Tiite feminists may feminists by saying drat racism, rather dran sexism, is the
have to come to terms with the complexities and primary source of oppression and drerefore that racism
contradictions of powerrelations involving tire intersection comes first. Although in Cañada, likein manyodrerplaces,
of gender,class,and race, while they might be at tire same aboriginal people, men and women, have been receiving
time privileged and oppressed (Stasiulis, 1991: 283). It unfair treatments, and therefore it would not be correct
seems to be contradictory, but ithas been possible to belong to assume drat all drose bad treatments, as often cirizens
to a privileged class and to still be oppressed in another of secüird class, are necessary due to a sexist or racist
category. Several White middle class women, well educated, policy.
can relate to experiences of oppression while tliey accept These debates about race and class reflectone aspectof
living in privileged conditions. dre crisis in Marxism, as it has focused on producrion and
Black feminists have criticized the Wlrite feminists class relation. Debates among Marxists and Marxists focus
coming to generalizo all women from their experiences. on dre relationship between racism aird dre development
They reject the claims to universality of the central of capitalism.The relationship between race and class,and
categories and assumptions of Wlrite feministanalyses. between racism and capitalism has received in dre past
Also Black feminists criticize tire treatmentof tire family many divergent answers. The new era of new social
byWhitefeminists. The family and women's roles as wives developments provided finally dre polirical context for the
and motlrers within it, are central to feminist theory. The development of Blackfeminism and feminism of women
role of women as performing domestic labor, especially of Color. Since Development followed Colonization, and
tire bearing and raising of children is more problematic now Partrrership is replacingDevelopment, tire door isopen
for Black feminists and definitely culturally bound. The for a Nortir and Soudr dialogue and therefore for a new
idea of family, and specially family at large, which could definition of global feminism.

250 CIENCIA ERGO SUM Voi 5 NUHC

 Black and White Feminism PosT-CoLONiAL Visión

III. Disconstructíng and Dismantling areas witli which they had no experience witli, tiiey came
out looking only more racist (Muklterjee,1992: 168). The
In tliis process of disconstructingand dismantling, severa! hierardiical pattern of race and sexrelationship in American
aspects have ro be assessed. The term WesUrnFeminist\\'M society merely took a differentform under feminism, which
come from the fact that many scholars have codified. has to be considered, I think, in this section of dismantling
Others as non-western and therefore themselves as process.
NX'éstern. The term Coloni-::;ation\vAS> come to denote a variety The hierardiical pattern of race and sex relationship
of phenomena in recent feminist and leftwritings in gene already established in American society merely took a
ral. The experience and struggles of feminist women of different form under feminism: the form of White women
Color has been an appropriation by hegemonic White writing books that purport to be about the experience of
women's movements. It was in slave society tliat tlieconcept Americanwomen when, in fact, tlieyconcéntrate solelyon
of mhiteprivikge gave \Xdiite women a degree of power over the experience of White women; and finally die form of
botli Black men and Black women. The institution of endless argument and debate as to whetlier or not racism
slavery reveáis tlie privileges gained by tlie \Xdiite women was a feminist issue (Muklierjee, 1992: 168).
within a patriarchal and capitalistic society and the In the process of dismantling tlie status of postcolonial
powerlessness of Black women in tlie same societ)'. feminism, we have to address tlie question of what comes
The fact that Western feminists write of women in tlie first: race,gender or profession? (Suleri, 1995:273). Is tliere
Third World is, I think, a political and discursive practice. an easy definition of postcolonial women?
It can be seen as a mode of intervention into hegemonic Cox thinks that all racist phenomena have tlieir roots in
discourses.That is to say diat those practices are inscribed the colonial phase of capitalism. The expansión of
in relations of power, and therefore are arbitrary. Since capitalism via tlie amassing of vast profits from the
Development replaced chronologically the period of enslavement and proletarianization of colored people
Colonization, it is not so surprising to see its hegemonic necessitated the construction of a philosophy of justifi-
position today in so many ways. Has development been cation. The major function of racism is to divide the
really the beginning of a new era, or is it only a change of working class so that the capitalists can exploit the
the terminology of the same intervention? The Western proletariat more effectively. "... Traditionally tlie labor of
feminists cannot ignore the complex interconnections females, domestic work, is supposed to complement and
between First and Third world economies and the profound confirm their inferiority" (Barry, 1996: 21). Some analysts
effect of this on the lives of women in all countries. such as Bourgeault, insist that the imposition of class, as
In much research, the image of the XX^estern women has well as racist and sexist divisions, occurred with the
been depicted as educated, modern, having control over incorporation of Native peopleintocolonial relations under
their own body and sexmality and having tlie freedom to mercantile capitalism in die days of the fur trade. Racist
make their own decisions: It seems to appear in tlie global ideologies and practices bolsteredcolonization of Cañada.
media as the model that should be exported. In contrast, Slaves were without rights, could not vote, could not
the Third World women are sexually constrained, ignorant, associate with XXTiite people as equals, could not think of
poor, uneducated, tradition-bound, domestic, family- interracial marriage, were not welcome in White churches,
oriented and victimized. Such a person has been seen as and were segregated in Blackschools (Mandell, 1995: 40).
needing help and therefore wanting to be developed by Many historians failed to describe die brutalities endured
adopting the other model. by slaves.
It is fairly widely accepted that women in the Third World Suleri suggests that in the context of contemporary
have been victims of the colonial process and of tlie feminist discourse, the category of postcolonialism must
development process. Among the many forms of be read botli, as a free-floating metaphor for cultural
socioeconomic deprivation, African slavery on botli sides embatdement, and as almost obsolete signifier for the
of tlie Atlantic has probably provoked the most histórica! historicityof race. XXdiile some authors niay diink it useful
debate (Barry, 1996: 4). The women of colorare charging to write books like Talking Black: Thinking feminist,
into middle-class White women with having played an Thinking Black, diere is doubt that it would really, at this
exclusionary politics in the structures of the women's time, help die problem of dichotomy. History should be
movement. They have suggested that manyWhite feminists regarded as history and present considered as a new era
have appropriated tlie category women to speak only about for new partnership. To answer the question what comes
middle-class XXhite women's experience (Muklierjee, 1992: first,an other question could be asked, is racism a variable
166). When some feminists theorists defended their of feminism or is feminist dieory a stream of history and
exclusionary works on the basis that theycould not include therefore racist? From reading such sentence:

1998-FEDRcn CIENCIA ERGO SUM 251

 "... I belong to a group of peoplewho are havinga very courses that introduce students to a diversity of voices
difficult timebeing here...the most important thingnowis shouldnot castall menthe role of oppressors of all women,
that Black people are beingoppressed and we must work should criticize racism and reverse sexism.
with that", (Reagon, 1983: 540) it could be suggested that The only reason you would consider trying to team up
feminism has been shaded bysome marks of racism. with somebody who could possibly kill you, is because
that's theonlyway you om figure you canstay alive (Reagon,
rV. Constructing and Building 1983: 541).
In her article, CoaliUcn PoMcs: Tuming (he Cenlury, Bemice
In (he procesa of building and constructing, there are a Reagon explains the importanceof coalition,not because
priorityof issues around which allwomen are expected to it is a comfortable feeling but it is a necessary pain in
organize. It cannot be assumed that (he voices of white order to find alliances and to survive. Coalition work
middle-class women speak and theorize for all women. cannot be done in The Home; it is done outside being
Women from North and South can be analyzed in one dangerous. One cannot rate a coalition success by whether
category, as an homogenous group sharing the same or not you fell good. The women's movement has
oppressions, in a sociological notion of sameness, and perpetuated a myththat there is some common experience
fighting the same batdes. It can be assumed by feminist that comes just because we are women. But if you check
scientifíc, economic,legal and sociological discourses that the definition of women in the dictionar)', you may decide
women constitute a group,whichis everywhere powerless, that in some of the women's gathering some women de
exploited and sexually harassed. Therefore in this context cide to go and see or hear nothing like them. It comes
alliances can be defmed andcommon strate^es and policies from taking a word like women and using it like a code
can be adopted. (Reagon, 1983: 543).
It disturbs me equally deeply to read feminist history "Then comes what we really are. And at that point you
that only celebrates and rediscovers White foremothers, are not a woman. You are Black or you are Chicane or
and does not take into account consideration their collusion youare disabled or youare Racist or youare White.... Being
withthe racist and imperialist fotces of thetime (Mukherjee, a woman is not the goveming factor to your existence at
1992: 169). thatmoment" (Reagon, 1983: 543).
In most countries women Uve in the common context of Feminists will haveto change,because Canadian society
political struggle against class, race and gender, to ñame is changing in significantways. In Canadian society, it has
only the most important, but there are obviously many been demonstrated that the two most oppressedgroups of
more. For those who suffer these múltiples oppressions women are Black women and aboriginal women. Again
any kind of analysis which create oppositions as women and again the suffering of the Black people has marked
and Black, women and minorities, women and the colonized the literature:
people is of course a bitter mockery (Mukherjee, 1992: Mariana Valverde said she is Hispanic in América and
170). The terms of doubly oppressed, or triply oppressed, White in Cañada. I, on the other hand, am Black in América,
and double or triple minority that we so often encounter Black in Cañada and Black wherever I am (Simms, 1992:
in feminist literature, does,in myopinión, accentuate the 175). The day must come for all of us to say and to feel
differences and the exclusión rather than serve positively that this is our world and to take part in it, as each of us
the analyses. has to believe that we can make a difference.
However, one hopes that this time around, instead of "Even when we haveour Women-only Festivals, there is
playing the sepárate but equal game, we can take stock no such a thing... Todaywherever women gather together
of the past, calmly assess its mistakes and begin to build it is not necessarily nurturing, it is coalition building"
for a more promising fiiture (Mukherjee, 1992: 166). (Reagon, 1983: 543).
In this reconstructing process many women areactively The question that Stasiulis asks is fundamental: which
working for anti-racist hiring practices and anti-racist form of power relations' -racial oppression or class
curriculum. As the author of the article The Diáded House exploitation- is more determinant in providing the basis
mentioned, she was horrified when she realized that her of social inequality, antagonism, and consciousness within
notions of American literature were racist, not through social movements for change? Or which evil-racial
racist thoughts but because she only studied the texts oppression or class exploitation- is the most primary
written by white American men and women and that liad (Stasiulis, 1991: 270).
never been questioned. There has been an obvious hierarchy of the oppressed,
In order to build a more unitedapproach to feminism, a and until women understand this hierarchy, we will not be
true feminist tíieory should construct women's studies liberated from our unique forms of oppression.

252 CieNCIA CROO sum Vot. 9 NuBiRo Taca, Novifaaat l9ta>FeaRCMD

 Black ano White Feminish, PoST-CoLON Visión

"Blackwomen musf fight the world becauserhey strug^e The issue of die Post-Coionial visión of feminism should
daily againsfthe racist,sexist,ciassistpoweroí Wliite men, have a priority place on the agenda of tJte XXIst century
and against the sexist power of poweriess Black men" andbegin to occupy a central position intheg)obal awareness.
(Simms, 1992: 177). Since tlie issue of racism has a root, as is mentioned above,
Understanding the historv;and why tliereare been these in the división of labor in the capitalist context, it should
two schools of thoughts or two theories in the Post Co have a solution in die establishment of North and South
lonial Studies, as mentioned at the beginning, rather patternship within a new paradigm of development, and
repeating it or reliving it, will propel women to plan the therefore a place in the global economy.
future in ways that do not replicarethe negative outcomes Instead of striving to perpetúate the social differences
of the past. and, therefore enlarging rite gapbe^veen Black feminism and
White feminism; the global agenda should concentrare on
Conclusión: The United House studying die common problems of discrimination of all
women of Color and White women in order to finally
From the above analysis of the problem, it is suggested eliminare Blackand White feminism, to build a new glo
that not all women, whether or not it is because they are bal feminist dieorj'.
black or white, have similar concerns and needs and "It must become necessary for ;ill of us to feel that this
therefore cannot have similar interests and goals. is our world" (Reagon, 1983: 546).
Wliat becomes clearer is that women have several simi As a final comment it should be pointed out that if
lar basicsociological concerns, whichcould be studied, at a nothing else can bind the women together as a group,
global level and solutions couldbe applied locally according women solidaritycan and will;solidarity was obvious and
to the degree of the problem and adapted to the culture. had an active presence in the Beijing conference, as 40 000
Womenaround the world havea coherentgroup identity women from all colors, with experiences from all over the
within the different cultures -and prior to their entry into world gathered together to express commonconcerns and
social relations. look for partners in the hope to seek adequate solutions
"It is our hope that the house divided will not survive and keep the door ajar in order to build a united house.
but will somedaybe the house united,a houseunitedagainst Thisglobal solidarity, if nothing else, is diehope towards
racial, sexual, and class injustices" (Mukherjee, 1992: 174). the United House. tij

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