Week 6 Blog
Lorde & Anzaldua
First off, Lorde has this idea of an interlocking nature of power and how intersectionality is this consciousness of oppression. She believes that she will always be seen as a ‘piece’ and never a ‘whole.’ For example, even though Lorde is a black lesbian woman, she believes people will only view her as ‘black’ alone, and not as a black lesbian woman altogether. I believe this cultural situation arises from society not being able to accept people for who they are as a ‘whole’ and just look at them piece by piece. Many believe that if you are not white, you are black and that is wrong, relating to Plumwood’s view of dualisms. In my opinion, I think this is how a big chunk of society views individuals and again, doesn’t appreciate them as a whole, leading to problems with gender and power. Since Lorde is a black lesbian woman, she is looked down upon not for being just black, but also for being a lesbian and a woman. It is never a win-win situation, although Lorde believes that differences should be useful, and individuals shouldn’t be shunned because of them.
Secondly, Anzaldua has this concept that power is multiple and uneven. Again, someone is looked down upon for something they are or something they aren’t, such as Anzaldua being apart of two different cultures. She has this idea of a mestiza consciousness, where she creates her own ‘hybrid’ consciousness from being oppressed between two different cultures. She combines these two borderland consciousnesses (of the two different cultures) to one hybrid (mestiza) consciousness. Anzaldua is apart of two different cultures, and this makes it harder for her to determine where she ‘fits’ in with society and how she thinks she will be accepted. She is being oppressed as a single subject because of this. Anzaldua doesn’t like the idea of being just a little piece of who she truly is since she is apart of multiple identity categories. Therefore, she creates this hybrid consciousness. Personally, I believe this is where she’s telling us that power is multiple and uneven, and we have to find our own way to make ourselves be that ‘whole’ by condensing every aspect of who we are between the borderlands.
Lorde and Anzaldua both believe that gender and power are impacted by race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, etc. An individual has to take accountability for naming the conditions of that position. Lorde describes herself as severed parts and not a ‘whole,’ where Anzaldua creates this new mestiza consciousness that is not whole because she is combining the consciousnesses of her two cultures into one.