Blog Six
I'm not exactly sure what is meant by consciousness, but I believe it's like the idea brought up the Lorde piece where a woman in Africa would not think of herself as a black woman, but because of the way society functions today, she's forced to associate herself as a black person in the presence of different races.
Likewise, this idea is expanded in the Gloria Anzaldua piece, where she talks about being a Chicano woman in a white male society. Her plight is further complicated by her being a Lesbian, which doesn't allow her be one being, rather she's split between being a Mexican, a woman, or a Lesbian. She takes which ever consciousness is necessary to please her perspective sect that she's vouching for.
Meanwhile, in the Gunn Allen, in addition to being a minority, she's also in the Third World part of Allan Johnson's +5 System. In the Third World system, she's likely subject to situations that arise out of living in substandard conditions, being looked down upon and victim to the uneducated masses who may not have been taught about the rights of others.
The two authors have similar ideas in theory, as is often the case in the pieces we've read. They believe that people are oppressed due to race, class, gender, and sexuality. Indeed, Gunn Allen pays tribute to at least two of the women we read piece for in Gloria Anzaldua and Andre Lorde. In fact, I'm hard pressed to notice any real difference between the three writers' views.