Feminist Solidarity at the Crossroads Routledge Research in Gender and Society 1 Economics of the Family and 9 Homosexuality, Law and Family Policies Resistance Edited by Inga Persson and Derek McGhee Christina Jonung 10 Sex Differences in Labor Markets 2 Women’s Work and Wages David Neumark Edited by Inga Persson and Christina Jonung 11 Women, Activism and Social Change 3 Rethinking Households Edited by Maja Mikula An Atomistic Perspective on European Living Arrangements 12 The Gender of Democracy Michel Verdon Citizenship and Gendered Subjectivity 4 Gender, Welfare State and Maro Pantelidou Maloutas the Market Thomas P Boje and Arnlaug Leira 13 Female Homosexuality in the Middle East 5 Gender, Economy and Culture Histories and Representations in the European Union Samar Habib Simon Duncan and Birgit Pfau Effi nger 14 Global Empowerment of Women Responses to Globalization and 6 Body, Femininity and Politicized Religions Nationalism Edited by Carolyn M. Elliott Girls in the German Youth Movement 1900–1935 15 Child Abuse, Gender and Society Marion E P de Ras Jackie Turton 7 Women and the Labour-Market 16 Gendering Global Self-employment as a Route to Transformations Economic Independence Gender, Culture, Race, and Identity Vani Borooah and Mark Hart Edited by Chima J. Korieh and Philomena Ihejirija-Okeke 8 Victoria’s Daughters The Schooling of Girls in Britain 17 Gender, Race and and Ireland 1850–1914 National Identity Jane McDermid and Nations of Flesh and Blood Paula Coonerty Jacqueline Hogan 18 Intimate Citizenships 27 Overcoming Objectifi cation Gender, Sexualities, Politics A Carnal Ethics · Elzbieta H. Oleksy Ann J. Cahill 19 A Philosophical Investigation 28 Intimate Partner Violence of Rape in LGBTQ Lives The Making and Unmaking Edited by Janice L. Ristock of the Feminine Self Louise du Toit 29 Contesting the Politics of Genocidal Rape 20 Migrant Men Affi rming the Dignity of the Critical Studies of Masculinities Vulnerable Body and the Migration Experience Debra B. Bergoffen Edited by Mike Donaldson, Raymond Hibbins, Richard 30 Transnational Migration, Media Howson and Bob Pease and Identity of Asian Women Diasporic Daughters 21 Theorizing Sexual Violence Youna Kim Edited by Renée J. Heberle and Victoria Grace 31 Feminist Solidarity at the Crossroads 22 Inclusive Masculinity Intersectional Women’s Studies The Changing Nature of for Transracial Alliance Masculinities Edited by Kim Marie Vaz and Eric Anderson Gary L. Lemons 23 Understanding Non-Monogamies Edited by Meg Barker and Darren Langdridge 24 Transgender Identities Towards a Social Analysis of Gender Diversity Edited by Sally Hines and Tam Sanger 25 The Cultural Politics of Female Sexuality in South Africa Henriette Gunkel 26 Migration, Domestic Work and Affect A Decolonial Approach on Value and the Feminization of Labor Encarnación Gutiérrez-Rodríguez Feminist Solidarity at the Crossroads Intersectional Women’s Studies for Transracial Alliance Edited by Kim Marie Vaz and Gary L. Lemons NEW YORK LONDON First published 2012 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2012 Taylor & Francis The right of Kim Marie Vaz and Gary L. Lemons to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Typeset in Sabon by IBT Global. Printed and bound in the United States of America on acid-free paper by IBT Global. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Feminist solidarity at the crossroads : intersectional women’s studies for transracial alliance / edited by Kim Marie Vaz, Gary L. Lemons. p. cm. — (Routledge Research in gender and society ; 31) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Women’s studies—United States. 2. Racism—United States. 3. Feminist theory—United States. 4. African American feminists. I. Vaz, Kim Marie. II. Lemons, Gary L. HQ1181.U5F47 2011 305.42071'1—dc23 2011027020 ISBN13: 978-0-415-89886-7 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-0-203-14505-0 (ebk) I dedicate this book to the contributors who came when we called. They helped us commemorate the moment in which the Department of Women’s Studies was under threat of erasure. What the speakers gave and left us with is this repository of their voices, their solidarity, and their political love. I also dedicate this book most importantly to my “Brother” Gary Lemons. The melody carried by The Blind Boys of Alabama, as they sing, “when my legs no longer carry and the warm wind chills my bones,” captured my experience through this turbulent period. Composed by Ben Harper, this spiritual of hope’s central message is through our connection to others and to the divine, we will not walk alone. On many a day the lyrics of this song reverberated through me, but because of his political love, “when I was tired and weary,” I reached for Brother Gary, and I did not walk alone. . . . Kim Marie Vaz For Fanni, our thirty years of womanist union has made me a better, wiser—father, husband, teacher, and uncompromising pro-feminist man. Gary L. Lemons Contents Foreword: Disloyalty to Whiteness—Practicing What We Preach xiii BEVERLY GUY-SHEFTALL Acknowledgments xix Introduction: “If I Call You, Will You Come?” From Public Lectures to Testament for Feminist Solidarity 1 KIM MARIE VAZ AND GARY L. LEMONS PART I Women’s Studies at the Intersection of the Margins, Once Again 1 Resegregating Women’s Studies: “‘Racial Aliteracy’— White Appropriation of Black Presences” Revisited 19 KIM MARIE VAZ 2 Resisting Erasure: An Anti-Sexist and Anti-Racist Response to the Decline of Institutional Support for Women’s Studies 32 JULIE DUMOIS-SANDS AND KIM MARIE VAZ 3 Keep on Keepin’ On: Multicultural Women’s Studies and the New Managerialism 45 BARBARA SCOTT WINKLER PART II Embodying Theory, Intersectional Herstories: A Call to Remember 4 Intellectual Genealogies, Intersectionality, and Anna Julia Cooper 59 VIVIAN M. MAY x Contents 5 Remembering This Bridge Called My Back, Remembering Ourselves 72 M. JACQUI ALEXANDER 6 Why the Academy Needs Womanism, Now More Than Ever 83 LAYLI PHILLIPS MAPARYAN PART III From “Heart to Heart”: Intersectional Approaches to Teaching in the Spirit of Political Love 7 Heart to Heart: Teaching with Love 97 BELL HOOKS 8 “Brothers of the Soul”: Men Learning About and Teaching in the Spirit of Feminist Solidarity 104 GARY L. LEMONS AND SCOTT NEUMEISTER 9 “Making Our Roads by Walking”: Using Feminist Theory and Practices in Labor Studies Teaching 119 M. THANDABANTU IVERSON 10 A Eulogy for Black Women’s Studies? 132 L. H. STALLINGS PART IV At the Crossroads of Feminist Solidarity: New Coalitions, New Alliances 11 Black Feminist Masculinities: Turning Points and Intersections 149 AARONETTE WHITE 12 “Women’s Studies Is Not My Home?” When Personal and Political Professions Become Acts of Emancipatory Confession 166 GARY L. LEMONS Contents xi 13 Anti-Racist Interventions in the Academy: Toward a Feminist Politics of Relation and Accountability 182 AIMEE CARRILLO ROWE AND ANN RUSSO PART V Practicing Anti-Domination Politics: Visionary, Soulful Interventions 14 “Making Face, Making Soul”: Spiritual Activism and Social Transformation 205 ANALOUISE KEATING 15 Against the Politics of Compensatory Domination 220 CHRISTINE (CRICKET) KEATING Contributors 229 Index 231