Colonize This!: Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism
It has been decades since women of color first turned feminism upside down, exposing the '70s feminist movement as exclusive, white, and unaware of the concerns and issues of women of color from around the globe. Now a new generation of brilliant, outspoken women of color is speaking to the concerns of a new feminism, and to their place in it. Daisy Hernandez of Ms. magazine and poet Bushra Rehman have collected a diverse, lively group of emerging writers who speak to their experience—to the...
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It has been decades since women of color first turned feminism upside down, exposing the ‘70s feminist movement as exclusive, white, and unaware of the concerns and issues of women of color from around the globe. Now a new generation of brilliant, outspoken women of color is speaking to the concerns of a new feminism, and to their place in it. Daisy Hernandez of Ms. magazine and poet Bushra Rehman have collected a diverse, lively group of emerging writers who speak to their experience—to the strength and rigidity of community and religion, to borders and divisions, both internal and external—and address issues that take feminism into the twenty-first century. One writer describes herself as a “mixed brown girl, Sri-Lankan and New England mill-town white trash,” and clearly delineates the organizing differences between whites and women of color: “We do not kick ass the way the white girls do, in meetings of NOW or riot grrl. For us, it’s all about family.” A Korean-American woman struggles to create her own identity in a traditional community: “Yam-ja-neh means nice, sweet, compliant. I’ve heard it used many times by my parents’ friends who don’t know shit about me.” An Arab-American feminist deconstructs the “quaint vision” of Middle-Eastern women with which most Americans feel comfortable. This impressive array of first-person accounts adds a much-needed fresh dimension to the ongoing dialogue between race and gender, and gives voice to the women who are creating and shaping the feminism of the future. Library Journal Ms. magazine columnist Hernandez and former Muslim poet Rehman, both feminist activists, have assembled a broad collection of essays by young women writers, academics, and activists from a range of cultures and sexual orientations. A few essays have a very specialized focus, describing such experiences as a Chicana with HIV and a Native American woman participating in the typically male War Dance ceremony. More often the contributors look more generally at their lives and families and consider how these experiences have influenced their understanding of feminism. Several writers critique "white, middle class feminism" for failing to take into account the impact of classism and racism on women of color. One essay discusses the impact of gentrification on poor, single mothers; another tells of the author's immigrant mother turning to sex work to support her daughters. Cultural and religious customs are discussed by a Nigerian woman who comes to the United States for college and by an Indian American woman who is expected to pursue an arranged marriage. These are very personal, interesting, and readable essays. Recommended for large public and academic libraries. JDebra Moore, Cerritos Coll., Norwalk, CA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
ForewordIntroductionbrowngirlworld: queergirlofcolor organizing, sistahood, heartbreak3Colonize This!17Organizing 101: A Mixed-Race Feminist in Movements for Social Justice29Man of the House40What Happens When Your Hood is the Last Stop on the White Flight Express?54HIV and Me: The Chicana Version71Love Feminism but Where's My Hip Hop?: Shaping a Black Feminist Identity85Black Feminism In Everyday Life: Race, Mental Illness, Poverty And Motherhood99In Praise of Difficult Chicas: Feminism and Femininity119Love Clinic133Dutiful Hijas: Dependency, Power and Guilt142Femme-Inism: Lessons of My Mother157Feminist Musings on the No. 3 Train170Thirty-Eight182Chappals and Gym Shorts: An Indian Muslim Woman in the Land of Oz203"Because You're a Girl"215Bring Us Back into the Dance: Women of the Wasase230Ladies Only245I Sold My Soul to Rock and Roll257Lost in the Indophile Translation: A Validation of My Experience268Heartbroken: Women of Color Feminism and the Third Wave279It's Not an Oxymoron: The Search for an Arab Feminism295Falling off the Tightrope onto a Bed of Feathers312How Sexual Harassment Slaughtered, Then Saved Me326Living Outside the Box343The Black Beauty Myth357Nasaan ka anak ko? A Queer Filipina-American Feminist's Tale of Abortion and Self-Recovery370Can I Get a Witness? Testimony from a Hip Hop Feminist382Notes395About the Contributors397
\ Library JournalMs. magazine columnist Hernandez and former Muslim poet Rehman, both feminist activists, have assembled a broad collection of essays by young women writers, academics, and activists from a range of cultures and sexual orientations. A few essays have a very specialized focus, describing such experiences as a Chicana with HIV and a Native American woman participating in the typically male War Dance ceremony. More often the contributors look more generally at their lives and families and consider how these experiences have influenced their understanding of feminism. Several writers critique "white, middle class feminism" for failing to take into account the impact of classism and racism on women of color. One essay discusses the impact of gentrification on poor, single mothers; another tells of the author's immigrant mother turning to sex work to support her daughters. Cultural and religious customs are discussed by a Nigerian woman who comes to the United States for college and by an Indian American woman who is expected to pursue an arranged marriage. These are very personal, interesting, and readable essays. Recommended for large public and academic libraries. JDebra Moore, Cerritos Coll., Norwalk, CA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.\ \
