08.a.new.knowledge

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ANew Knowledge:Feminism From An AficentricPerspective

Introductionw at is invisibility?Does invisibilityoccurwhen something isnothere, nonexis ent? Or,dws itoccur when somethingexists,but is obscured by factors or socialstructures that render it shapeless,voiceless and thus, nonexistent?The issue of invisibility is onethat has hstorically characterizedthe debates around the relevance ofwhite middle class feminism givenits exclusion of Women of Color.Where, for example, are Afrikanawomen in mainstream ferninis dis-course?Where are their voices, theirexperiences, their realities? Indeed,they are invisible in that they havebeen rendered voiceless, their expe-riences shapeless in this discoursc.Yet history is full of examples of theexistence of Afrikana women in thiscountry, one, according to La-Frances Rodgers-Rose (1980), thathas been characterized by nearlyfour hundred years of struggle toexist, to be their own persons, notonly for themselves but for theirfamilies. So where are they? JeanYellin (1982) tells us that:

Their presence is what ismost important. If we aremwa r e of Black womeninnineteenth-century Amer-

by Phyllis Ham Garth

Phyllis Ham Garth is a doctoral student in Adult Continuing Educa~ion,Department of Leadership an d Educational P o l i c ~ ~ridies, College ofEducation, Northern Illinois University, ~ c . h l bllinois.

ica, it is not because theywere not here; i f w e knownothmg of their literatureand culture, it isnotbecausethey left no records. I t is be-cause their lives and theirwork have been profoundlyignored. Both as the pro-ducers ofculture andas thesuhjects of the cultural pro-ductions of others, how-ever, their traces are every-where (Yellin,in Hull et al.,1982:221).This statement by Y e h s mostrevealing.It calls our attention to the

"invisibility" of Afnkana women inhistorical text. Yet, when we exam-ine Afrikana women's experiencesfrom their own voice, we find theyhave engaged in actions that hstorj-cally were either/or both self-libera-tory and liberating for AfrikanAmericans as a group. Long beforeAmerican women out of Europeanculhiral underpinnings became in-volved in org,mized activities laterdefined a s feminism, women fromAfrikan cultural underpinnings en-gaged in both formal and informalefforts to self-actualize; to defineand secure their liberation.

Afrikan American women (akaAfnktzna women) have been ac-tively involved in the feministmovement from theonset of slavery.Their feminist struggle grew out ofa hstory of oppression t ha t shaped,

created and recreated in them asense of independence, knowledgeand skillat warfare, and a deepcom-mitment to their personal survivaland hat of their race. Sometimes inconjunction with Afrikana men mdsometimes not, Afrrkana womenhave consistently struggled againstracist oppression in both formal andovert ways and informal, intangiblecovert ways. In this sense, Mrikanawomen were the forerunners of theEuroamerican middle class feministmovement. However, Euroameri-can mainstream feminist theory andWomen's Studies present a way oflooking and seeing feminism thatobscures the bstorical collectiveex-periences of Afrikana women.Euroamerican feminists have thepower to name that which goes bythe name of "feminist." In ths re-gard, they h a v e produced and vali-dated knowledge that ignores or a tbest marginalizes the knowledge,perspectives, and experiences of Af-rikana women. They have been suc-cessful in centering their issues andexperiences and decen win g the is-sues and lived experiences uf otherwomen.

The purpose of t h s article is tobegin to sort out and clarify variousconstructions of feminism payingparticular attention to Aftikanawomen's self-definitions ot femi-nism. This article is a "working pa-per" that is par t of a larger moreindustrio~us roject to develop and

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explicate a new knowledge of femi-nism, in general, and Afrikanawomen's feminism, in particular. Inthis article, I wiH simply delineateand illuminate the variousstrands/theories of Afr ikanawomen's feminjsm, identifyingcommon themes as we1 as differ-ences across conceptualizations offeminism.

The methodology utilized inthis article consists of a criticalanalysis of Literature identified by asearch of feminist/womanist writ-ings and discourse. Themes areidentified in these writings and Af-rikana women's feminism is classi-fied and discussed within the fol-lowingthreecategories:Black Femi-nism, Womanism, and AfrikanaWornanism. The article concludeswith a working definition and cri-t ique of mainstream Euroamericanterninism vis-a-vis the feministtheories of Afrikana women.

Black FeminismBlack feminism as a conceptcanbe said to represent a point of view

that emphasizes or is characterizedby a focus on the histclrical realitiesof enslavement; the lived experi-encesof Afrikana wornen; the mani-fold and simultaneous oppressionof race, class, and gender; and thelife and death struggles for survivaland liberation. f i s conceptualiza-tion of Afrjkanawomen's feminismcan be found in the works ofAfri-kana women scholars such a s Patri-cia Hill~olt ins 1989), bell hooks(1 984), the Combnhee h v e r Collec-tive (19811), anJ Michelle Wallace(1975).According to Patricia Hill-Col-lins (19931,the origin of Black ierni-nism is the lived experiences thatenslaved Afrikan women broughtwith them to theUnited States in theeighteenthand early nineteenth cen-turies. Prior to their enslavement,Afrikan women were socialized tobe independent, self-reliant, and re-sourceful. Despite the fact that this

Afnkan feminism was modified byslavery, Afrikana women were de-termined to maintain these key ele-ments of heir Afrikan self-defini-tions as women.

Sometimes inconjunction withAfikana men andsometimes not,Afirkana womenhave consistentlystruggled againstracist oppressionin both formal an d

over t ways andinformal,intangible covertways.

Contemporary conceptualiza-tions of Black Feminism suchas Col-lins', have their hstorical roots inthe perspectives and activism ofearly nineteenth century Afrrkanawomen, such as Sojourner Truth,Mary Ann Shadd Cary, Harriet Tub-man, and Lucy C . Laney.However,although these Afrikana womenlaid the intellectual and politicalgroundwork for a "Black Femi-nism," it was twentieth century Af-rikana women that brought BlackFeminism as a political movementand Black feminist thought as its in-tellectual voice and vision to fullfruition (Col lh , 1993).Organizing around Afnkanawomen's struggles against racism,sexism and heterosexual oppres-sion, the CombaheeRiverCollectivedeveloped and articulated a state-ment on Black feminism and activ-ism tha t firmly melds the two to-gether. Afrikana feminist BarbaraSmith describes the Combaheefiver Collective statement as "a

Thresholds in Education

concise articulation of Black ferni-nist theory and practice. It exempli-fies the way in which the richestanalysis and ideology are integrallyconnected to organizing:that theoryand practice are simply differentspokes of thesamewheel of makingchange" (Smith,986).The CombaheeRiver Collectivebasically definesBlack Feminism asa logical political movement to com-bat the multiple and simultaneousoppression that all women of colorexperience.According to the Collec-tive, the genesis of contemporaryBlack Feminism involves an af-firmation of its origins in the histori-cal reality of Afrikan Americanwomen's continuous life-and-deathstruggle for survival and liberation.

Picking up on this theme, Col-lins (1989) talks about Afrikanawomen's sustained resistance as thecreation of a powerful foundationfor a more visible Black feminist ac-tivist tradition.Ttus tradition is greatly influ-enced and shaped by the goals ofBlack feminist thought.Coilins at-tributes the enduring and sharedre-sistance among AfrLkana women totheir understanding of their oppres-sion and their appropriate action toresist it. Afrikan Antericm womenhave a self-defined position on theirown oppression. They have a dis-tinctive set of experiences due totheir political and economic status.These experiences provide themwith a different view of material re-alty than available to other groups.Afrikan American women experi-ence a different world, a world t h a tisuniqueonly to them. In this sense,Afrikan American women have adistinctive Black eministconscious-ness,one hat has been structured bythe intersection of race, class andgender. Thus,Black Feminism as aconcept, concerns itself with the d-multaneity of race, class and sexualoppression.

h ddition, theconceptof BlackFeminism stressesthe importanceotsolidarity with Black men. tus is in


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contradistinction from thoseEuroamerican and other feministswho advocate the separation ofwomen and men.According to theCombahee River Collective, "oursituation as Black people necessi-tates that we have solidarity aroundthe fact of race, which white womenof course do not need to have withwhite men, unless t is their negativesolidarity as racial oppressors"(1986:12).Womanism

Womanism is a concept utilizedbysomeAfrikanawomen tocharac-terize their commitment to the sur-vival and wholeness of entire peo-p le, female and male alike.

The womanist phlosophy rep-resents a consciousness that incor-porates racial, cultural, sexual, na-tional, economic and political con-siderations of oppression. The con-cept of "Womanism" is borrowedfrom writer Alice Walker (1983)who coined the term following herreview of Rebecca Jackson's auto-biographical writings. Amid theeditor's speculation that the rela-tionship between Jackon and Re-becca Perot might have been con-strued in a modem context a s les-bian, Walker attempted to clarifyand distinguish Afrikana women'sconceptualization and lived experi -ences of feminism. According toWalker, in the Black feminist cul-tural tradition, "womanism" in-cludes women's love for otherwomen but it is not separatist (Hine,1993). Embracing and sometimesexpanding Walker's concept ofWomanism, a variety ot Afrikanawomen have used ttus concept intheir explications of Afrikanawomen's feminism. These womeninclude: Elsa Barkley Brown (1989),Clukwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi(1985)in Donaldson, 1992,and Mar-garet A. Shaw (1992).According to the Walker defini-tion of womanism, a womanist canbe described as a Black feminist or

teminist of color. The concept wasderived hum the expression ofmothers in the Afrikana comrnu-nity:"youare actingwomanish."Byth s they simply meant that a not yetadult is acting like an adult, like awoman,wantingto know more thanyou should, wanting to be grown.Some Afrikana women who definetheir feminism in terms of the con-cept of womanism often relate toBarbara Smith's insightful discus-sionof the intersection of race, class,and gender. According to BarbaraSmith (1983), everything in theworld kicks our behinds-race,class, gender, and homophobia. Sheemphasizes that it is counterpro-ductive to rank oppression.Sexismlike all other isms is a part of ourlives. Responding to BarbaraSmith's comments, Ogunyemi con-tends that, "tlus description of'womanism' affirms he intern eav-ing of oppression and incorporatessexual, racial, cultural, national, an deconomic considerations into anypolitics of reading" (Ogunyemi, inDonaldson, 1992:21).

Afrakan Americanwomen experiencea diflerent world , aworld t ha t i sunique only t othem.

According to Brown (1989),many women have adopted theterm "womanism" to avoid the limi-tationsofother terminology. Walkerand Ogunyemi define "womanism"as a type of consciousness that in-cludes considerations of race, cul-ture, sex, nationalism, economics,and politics. Brown quotesOgmyemi as saying: "blackwornanism is a philosophy, thatconcerns itself both with sexual

Thresholds in Eduration

equality in the black communityand with the world power structurethat subjugates' both blacks andwomen" (Brown, 1989:613-14).Margaret Shaw (1992), positsthat Black women's concerns centeron structural inequality, for exam-ple, race, class, rather than theirplace in the structure. She view'swhite feminists as being concernedwith shifting the power from whitemiddle-class males to themselveswithin the same oppressive racistsystem,whereas Black women of allsocioeconomjc statusarc concernedwith changing the racist oppressivesystem (dominmt powrr system) toeffect rquali ty fo r all people includ-in g Black men.Shaw provides a con-t rast ing view of oppression. Malesupremacy is regarded as the enemyby whit; ferninjsts, but Blackwomen view whte supremacy asthe enemy. White feminists are con-cerned with individuality (I andme), and Black women are con-cenled with uplifting the entireBlack commtmity. Shaw contends,"feminists tend to be middle-classand white and have as their majorconcern sexist economics versus thetrilogy of Black terninist issues ofrace, class and economic oppres-sion ..we are all women but our ex-periences do not allow us to sharecommon ground" (1992:21).

Afrikana WomanismAfrikana womanism is a con-

cept coined and definedby ClenoraHudson-Weems in 1987,and intro-duced at the National Council forBlack Studies Conference in March,1988. Hudson-Weems believes thatit is crucial that women of the Afri-kan Diaspora name and define theirown unique movement. Accordingto Hudson-Weems (1992), the termfeminism, as defined and used byEuroamerican women, does notportray the reality of Afrikanawomen or their level of struggle. Inmany respects, i t represents a typeof inverted white patriarchy, with


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Euroarnerican feminists in chargeand on top. Vivian Gordon elo-quently articulates this perception.According to Gordon, "the move-ment fails to state clearly that thesystem is wrong, what i t does notcommunicate is that white womenwant to be a part of the system.Theyseek power, not change" (Gordon,1987:47).Hudson-Weems argues that"Black Feminism" is a modified ter-minology that reflects some Blackwomen 's attempt to iit into an estab-lished Euroan~ericmeminist para-digm and thus should be reevalu-ated. Her position is that while itmay deal with issues of sexism it~ O L ' S ittle or nothing to clarify thecritical problems within the Afri-kana community which are mflu-enced by racism and classism. Ac-cording to Hudson-Weems, histori-cal realities greatly differ for main-stream feminists and womanis s,subsequently a fen-linist ideology isno t equally applicable to woman-ists. In support of this position,Hudson-Weems quotes HistorianBettina Aptheker who analyzes theproblem accordingly:

When we place women atthe center of our tlunlung,we are goingabout the busi-ness of creating an hstori-caland culturalmatrix fromwhich women may claimautonomy and inde-pendence over their ownlives. For Women of Color,such an equality, such asempowerment, cannot takeplace unless the cornmuni-ties in which they live cansi~ccessfully stablish theirown racial and cultural in-tegrity (Aptheker, in Hud-son-Weems, 1989:187).Hudson-Weems finds "Afri-

kanaWomanism" tobe a morecom-patible and affirming concept. Us-ing thisconcept,she develops a newterminologyand paradigm for Afri-kana women offeringm a1 erm ive

critical theory of feminism.Hudson-Weerns sets out eighteen charac-teristics that distinguishes "Afri-kana Womanism." These points canbe sumnlarizedas follows: Afrikanawomen name and define them-selves; are family centered; believein sisterhood; encouragemale pres-enceand participation in their strug-gle; possess and den~onstratereatstrength; desire positive male com-panionshp; have flexible roles ashomemakers; denland respect andrecognition in the search for whole-ness and authenticity; are extremelyspiritual; respect and appreciateelders and encourage their young odo the same; demand no separatespace for nou r i s h g their individ-ual needs and goals; and are ambi-tious, but committed to motheringand nur tu r ing their families, in par-ticular and society in general.

According t oHudson- W eem s(1992), the termfeminism, as

defined and usedby Euroarnericanwomen, does notportray the reali tyofAfikana womenor their level ofs truggle.

According to Hudson-Weems,"Afrikana Womanism"portrays theactivism and the role of Ahikanawomen, and can be traced back toSojourner Truth's speech whichHudson-Weemsclaimsset the stagefor Afrlkana women's discoursethat focused on their unique experi-ences, needs, and desires.

Thresholds i n Education

ConclusionMy analysis of Afrikana

women's feminism highhghts theproblematic nature of Euroameri-can feminism. It is clear from theseconceptualizations that mainstreamEuroamerican conceptualization offeminismis an inappropriate frarne-work to address the concerns andissues of Afrikanawomanism.Whatis mainstream Euroamerican femi-nism? Mainstream Euroamericanfeminism is the dominant feministparadigm in the United States. Itcomes from privileged Euroameri-canwomen who have been andcon-tinue to be middle class, profes-sional and/or academics.

As Ahkana feminists, such ,zsbell hooks (1984) points out, thisparadigm ( 1 ) negates the knowl-edge and lived experiences of Afri-kana women; (2) ignores the com-plexity and diversity of Afrikanawomen's experiences; and (3) as-sumes that the reality of Euroameri-can middle class women is the real-ity of all women. Thus, it reflectstheir class interests. In other words,they have been successful in makingtheir interests the definitive state-ment of feminist theory.

Historically, Afrikana womenhave had respect for difference. Ourl ived experiences and the contem-porary realities of racism, sexism,and classism have sensitized us torespect difference. Many Eureamerican feministshave failed to ac-knowledgeour experiences, and hemultiple and interlocking oppres-sion whch have shaped our lives.This may be partially attributed tothe dominant feminist paradigm'sco-optation of mainstream patriar-chal values. It seems apparent thatsome Euroamerican feminists seekpower within the very system thatthey view as oppressive. Whyshould Afrikana women whole-heartedly embraceamovement thatis counterproductive and wdl notbenefit them?


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In addition, some Euroameri-can feminists' demand for inde-pendence and freedom from farmlyresponsibility is problematic for Af-rikana women. Afnkana women'sopposition to the aforementionedhas been historically demonstrated.hooks (1984) regards the feministdevaluation of family lifeanalysis sa direct reflection of the classnatureof the contemporary feministmove-ment. hooks states, "W e wish to ai -firm the primacy of family life be-cause we know that families are theonly sustained support system forexploited and oppressed peoples.We wish to rid family life of theabusive dimmsions created by sex-ist oppression without devastatingit " (1984:37).

The uniqueness of Afrikanawomen's experiences cannot beoverstated. We, unlikc many others,were subjected to being dehuman-ized on a daily basis during slavery.Afrikana women have endured andcontinue to endure oppression thatEuroamerican women neither expe-rienced nor were subjected to. Afrj-kana women were ruthless1y ex-ploited. We were enslaved, wpa-rated from our families, lynched,brutally raped andmurdered.Inherbook, "Women, Race and Class,"Angela Davis elaborates on this ex-perience in her discussion of Afri-kana women under slavery:

Black women were equal totheir men in the oppressionthey suffered; they weretheir men's sccial equalswithin the slave commu-nity; and they resisted slav-ery with a passion equal totheirmen's. Thiswas oneofthe greatest ironies of theslave system, for in subject-ing women to the mostruthless exploitation con-ceivable, exploitationwhich knew no sex distinc-tions, groundwork was cre-ated no t only for Blackwomen to assert their

equality through their so-cial relations,but also to ex-press it through their acts ofresistance .. If Black womenbore the temble burden ofequality in oppression, ifthey enjoyed equality withtheir men in their domesticen v ironrnent,then they alsoasserted their equality ag-gressively in challengingthe inhuman institution ofslavery (Davis, 1983:19,23).Davis also addresses the issue of

expediency.Shecontends that wheni t was politically or ec~nomicallyx-pedient (profitable) to do so, thewhite slaveholder exploited Afrj-kana women as if they were men.That is, in effectthey rendered Afri-kana women genderless. On theother hand,when they could be ex-ploited, punished and repressed inways that only women could, thenthey were locked into their femaleroles.

Some Euroamerican feminists,like earlier slaveholders, utilize ex-pediency to meet their agenda.Many of them do not differ verymuch from their male counterpartsin their 'timely inclusion' of AfrikanAmerican women. When it affordsthem credibility Afrikan Americanwomen are included in their dis-course. However, issuesgermane toour lives and experiencesare virtu-ally nonexistent in the mainstreamEuroamerican feminist movement.

According to Hudson-Weems:For many wtute women,Afrikana women exist fortheir purpose-a dramati-zation ofoppression.W t ewomen define themselvesas the defirutive woman. . .there was no need toname their studies a s'White' Women's Stud-ies. . . Gender-specific dis-crimination is the key issuefor Women's Studies, it un-fortunately narrows thegoals of Afrikana liberation

and devalues the quality ofAfrikana life. Thus, it nei-ther identifies nor definesthe primary issue for Afri-kana women or otherWomen of Color. Therefore,it is crucial that Afrikanawomen engage in self-nam-ing and selfdefinition, lestthey fall into the trap of re-fuung a critical ideology atthe risk of surrendering thecritical self (1989:107).Hudson-Weems gce on to say

that the interpretation of the Afrikanexperience is often imposed byEuroamerican feminists when it isconvenient for them. They drama-tize our oppression. A case in pointcan be found in their interpretationof SojournerTruth's "And Ain't I AWoman" speech. It is ironic thatEuroamerican feminists refer to thsspeech often to show that Afrikanawomen's concern, like theirs, waswith sexist oppression. However,according to Hudson-Weems(19891, Sojournerwas a t t a c h g nutembracing a part of the Women'sRights Agenda that was excludingher.

T h e voices ofwornen from theAfikan Diasporamust be heard.

It is also both trapc and ironkthat the contemporary ferninismovement parallels the earlywomen's movement in its sustain-ing racist practices. Diane Lewis(1988) posits that the current move-ment continues to deny th impor-tance of our hstory and experience.According to Lewis, essentially Af-rikana women occupy the samesub-ordinate status within the current

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