Week 6 Blog
According to Lorde, many different systems of power produce different kinds of consciousness that stem from intersectionality. She states that we need to take accountability by naming the conditions of our position and recognizing who we are, every part of us. We should see our differences as useful.
When people are of multiple cultures they are forced, in most cases, to see both sides of oppression. Like Gunn-Allen, consciousnesses are produced from two cultural backgrounds. Her Indian and American sides have such different views about women that she has to find a distinction between the two and make sense of how to fit and find her place between these two views.
These consciousnesses compel us to draw different conclusions about how power works through identity. This happens because we are forced to pick one over the other instead of finding a balance between our cultures and/or other limits. Both of these authors come to different resolutions in terms of finding a balance in their power both coming from several limited backgrounds. Lorde concludes that we need to get rid of the black vs white and recognize those grey areas it can’t be strictly one or the other. Gunn-Allen’s resolution is to make sense of her western patriarchal oppression and find a middle balance between, be hybrid.