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Refueling with Feminists of Color

Filed Under: Everyday Feminism, Racial Justice By Beth Godbee March 19, 2017 Leave a Comment

My last post shared blogs I love—blogs by feminists and womanists of color. I was motivated to write this post while working on a related one for the YWCA Southeast Wisconsin:

Screen Shot 2017-03-18 at 6.22.57 PM

“Refueling with Feminists of Color” shares books, blogs, and events to refuel the activist fire or to get fired up. Especially at this time of ever-increasing violence (symbolic, cultural, structural, and direct violence), I seek ways to keep commitments alight, to keep visions burning brightly.

I find much inspiration among feminists and womanists of color—in the books highlighted in this post for the YWCA, in the blogs I read on a daily basis, and in the events that allow me to connect with and learn from others.

A book cover for Audre Lorde's "Sister Outsider: Essays & Speeches." The title is written in gold along with Lorde's name and the subtext is in black. The background of the image is teal and a picture of Lorde is shown on the cover.
A book cover of Chandra Talpade Mohanty's "Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity." The background of the image is red and shows the faces of different people. The author's name is written in white, the book title is in black, and the subtitle is in yellow-orange.
This image is the book cover for "Feminism is for EVERYBODY: Passionate Politics" written by bell hooks. The title is on a yellow background with a strip of red below it. Below the title is a speckled background with paper cut outs of people.

An image of the bookcover for "Borderlands La Frontera," which was written by Gloria Anzaldúa. The words "Borderlands La Frontera" are written in orange with the word "Borderlands" underlined. The author's name and the subtext, "The New Mestiza," are written in a light orange color. Below the text, is a deisgn using purple, orange, teal, and lime green.
The book cover for Alice Walker's "In Search of Our Mother's Gardens." The author's name is written in black against a white strip above an image of a woman holding white flowr petals. The book title is written in black. Above the author's name is a review written in light purple.

I’m also returning this week from a professional conference, the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC). Powerful presentations reminded me, yet again, of how much I have to learn from feminist and womanist scholars, particularly women of color and indigenous women. Scholar-activists are enacting, modeling, and sharing with us (white folks, able-bodied folks, cis-gender folks—those of us who have much to learn) what it means to do feminism.

To do feminism as an act of love. To do feminism for racial and social justice. To do feminism toward humanizing, recognizing, and valuing all people. To do feminism that rewrites the world as it is and imagines the world as it “ought to be.”

At this moment (a moment when words feel far away and hard to find), I say simply: thank you!

Thank you to the many feminists and womanists of color who teach through words, through actions, and through lives on fire. Thank you for sharing fuel for the fire. And I commit again—today and as a daily practice—to listening, learning, and striving to live a life for justice.

—
This post is written by Beth Godbee for Heart-Head-Hands.com. Please consider liking this blog on FB and following the blog via email. Thanks!

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Tagged with: #52essays2017, activism, commitments, feminism, hope, intersectionality, language, learning, love, racial justice, reading, social justice, social media, writing

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About Beth Godbee

I'm an educator and former writing studies professor who believes our fully embodied selves matter in the world. We can’t just think our way out of the incredible injustices, dehumanization, violence, and wrongdoing that characterize everyday life. We must feel and act, too. [Pronouns: she/her.] Read more ...

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