Blog 6
Audre Lorde describes her consciousness as being intersected. She is not allowed to be everything she is (woman, black, feminist, lesbian) because there is not a place in society for all of those things to exist at the same time. Instead, she is required to pick one of the pieces of herself to refer to. She argues that the differences she has can be useful for seeing things from a different perspective than many others, and therefore she can help contradict our society's system of dualisms and the "one and no others" way of thinking. She says that the way in which our society can only see one difference at a time leaves all other differences and the way they are analyzed stable, and little change is made.
Paula Gunn Allen describes her consciousness as a double identity. Gunn Allen grew up in a Native American family but was educated and participated in "white society" as well. Women in her Native American culture were strong, powerful and were not seen as below men. When she would interact with white people, however, she felt she had to abandon her Native American womanhood and act more subdued and "weak" to be able to be identified as a woman to non- Native American people. Gunn Allen's conflicting identities of women show that dualisms are not universal, and that Native American culture has thrived without them. Difference in Native American culture is seen as just that, not as a way of judging one thing over another, and Gunn Allen thinks white Americans can learn a lot from this.
Both Lorde and Gunn Allen have perspectives of conflicting identities, but while Lorde looks at her differences as being related, Gunn Allen looks at how much her differences oppose one another. However, both authors agree, neither can be everything they are at one time and be fully accepted in society. Both are also looking to break down the system of dualisms so there can be a cultural space made for them where multiple differences are accepted.