Feminist Activist Politics and Sisterhood in the Life Narratives of Audre Lorde and June Jordan
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Hacettepe University Graduate School of Social Sciences Department of American Culture and Literature FEMINIST ACTIVIST POLITICS AND SISTERHOOD IN THE LIFE NARRATIVES OF AUDRE LORDE AND JUNE JORDAN Ezgi İlimen Master’s Thesis Ankara, 2017 FEMINIST ACTIVIST POLITICS AND SISTERHOOD IN THE LIFE NARRATIVES OF AUDRE LORDE AND JUNE JORDAN Ezgi İlimen Hacettepe University Graduate School of Social Sciences Department of American Culture and Literature Master’s Thesis Ankara, 2017 v To my parents… vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to my thesis advisor Assoc. Prof. Bilge Mutluay Çetintaş for her invaluable support, encouragement and comments on my thesis. I know I will always rely on her presence and guidance throughout my life. I would like to thank Prof. Meldan Tanrısal, Assoc. Prof. Tanfer Emin Tunç, Assoc. Prof. Özlem Uzundemir and Asst. Prof. Özge Özbek Akıman who also shared their knowledge and enriched my study with their contributions. I am highly indebted to my parents whose endless love, patience, support and faith in me have always been my greatest source of power, motivation and success. Finally, I would like to thank my AKE Family, all the members of the Department of American Culture and Literature, for being there whenever I need their advice or assistance. vii ÖZET İLİMEN, Ezgi. Audre Lorde ve June Jordan’ın Yaşam Anlatılarında Feminist Aktivist Politikalar ve Kardeşlik, Yüksek Lisans Tezi. Ankara, 2017. Afrikalı Amerikalı feminist aktivist yazarlar Audre Lorde’un Zami: A New Spelling of My Name ve June Jordan’ın Soldier: A Poet’s Childhood eserleri kadın yaşam anlatıları geleneğinin örnekleridir. Karakterlerin gelişimini anlatan anı türündeki bu eserler, anlatıcılarının ırkçılık, cinsiyetçilik, sınıf ayrımcılığı ve etnosentrizmin gölgesindeki travmatik tecrübelerini anlatır. Genç anlatıcıların kimlik mücadeleleri, Karayipli Afrikalı Amerikalı çevrelerinde ve asimilasyonu teşvik eden beyaz toplumda yaygın olan çelişkili ve ön yargılı kadınlık tanımlarıyla daha karmaşık bir hal alır. Yaşadıkları çevrenin tutarsız ve aykırı kültür kodlarına rağmen, anlatıcılar feminist farkındalıkla toplumun kabul ettiği ırk ve cinsiyet normlarını yeniden tanımlayıp, kadın dayanışması ve kardeşliğiyle kendi kimliklerini oluştururken, ırk ve cinsiyet tabanlı konumlandırılmalarının da farkına varırlar. Audre Lorde’un makale derlemesi Sister Outsider, onun hastalık anlatısı/anısı The Cancer Journals ve June Jordan’ın makale derlemesi Civil Wars otobiyografik feminist manifestolardır. Bu eserler, Afrikalı Amerikalı deneyimini başka yerlerde yaşayan toplumların deneyimleriyle ilişkilendiren feminist görüşleri ve gündemleri yansıtırlar. Lorde ve Jordan’ın ulusaşırı bakış açılarına göre, gelişen ve gelişmekte olan ülkelerde egemen ataerkil düzen içerisinde ırkçılık, kadın düşmanlığı ve sınıf ayrımı kesişen konulardır. Beyaz orta sınıf feminizmi ve ayrılıkçı kimlik politikalarının aksine, Lorde ve Jordan, umursamazlığa, sansüre ve kadın öyküsünün yok sayılıp tek tipleştirilmesine karşı, kadın sesini bir güç simgesi olarak kabul eden koalisyon politikalarını destekler ve işçi sınıfı kadınlarını, kadın bedeninin nesneleştirilmesini, özcü yaklaşımları savunan medyayı ve beden politikalarını, aile içi/toplumsal şiddeti ve ayrımcılığı incelerler. Yukarıda adı geçen eserler, çoğulcu, çok sesli ve çok yönlü feminizm(leri) teşvik ettiği için İkinci Dalga Feminizmin Üçüncü Dalga Feminizme evrilmesini örnekler. Anahtar Sözcükler: Yaşam anlatıları, Afrikalı Amerikalı Feminizmi, Kimlik, Kesişimsellik, Koalisyon, Kardeşlik. viii ABSTRACT İLİMEN, Ezgi. Feminist Activist Politics and Sisterhood in the Life Narratives of Audre Lorde and June Jordan, Master’s Thesis. Ankara, 2017. African American feminist writers Audre Lorde’s Zami: A New Spelling of My Name and June Jordan’s Soldier: A Poet’s Childhood are examples of women’s life writing tradition. These coming of age memoirs describe the traumatic ordeals of their narrators under the shadow of racism, sexism, classism and ethnocentrism. The young narrators’ struggles for visible identities are further complicated by the contradictory and prejudiced definitions of womanhood prevalent in their Caribbean African American background and in the assimilationist attitudes of the white community. Despite the contradictory and conflicting cultural codes of their environments, the narrators are able to come to an understanding of their racial and gender positionalities and form independent female identities through solidarity and sisterhood, while redefining socially constructed race and gender norms with a feminist consciousness. Audre Lorde’s essay collection Sister Outsider, her illness narrative/memoir The Cancer Journals and June Jordan’s essay collection Civil Wars are autobiographical feminist manifestos. These works reflect feminist perspectives and agendas that connect African Americans to other communities around the world. Lorde’s and Jordan’s transnational views suggest that the dominant patriarchal outlook can cause the intersectionality of racism, misogyny and classism in developing and developed nations. Unlike white middle class feminism or separatist identity politics, they advocate coalition politics, which regards women’s voices as powerful narratives against ignorance, censorship and the standardization of de-storied women, addressing working class women, sexual objectification, essentialist media and body politics, domestic/public violence and other discrimination. The above-mentioned works represent a shift from Second Wave to Third Wave feminist concerns by encouraging pluralistic, polyvocal and multi-issue feminisms. Key Words: Life narratives, African American Feminism, Identity, Intersectionality, Coalition, Sisterhood. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS KABUL VE ONAY ………………...………………………………………………………i BİLDİRİM ……................................................................................................................…ii YAYIMLAMA VE FİKRİ MÜLKİYET BEYANLARI HAKLARI ………………….iii ETİK BEYAN ……………………………………………………………………………..iv DEDICATION ……………………………………………………………………………..v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................vi ÖZET ……………………………………………………………………………………..vii ABSTRACT .…………...…………………………….…………………………………..viii TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………….…………………………...ix INTRODUCTION ...……………………………………………………………………….1 ABOUT JUNE JORDAN AND AUDRE LORDE ………….……….........................3 THE CHRONOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES …………………………………………………………….12 AFRICAN AMERICAN FEMINISM, CRITICISM AND WOMEN’S LITERATURE ………………………………………………………………………20 CHAPTER 1: WRITING THE UNSPEAKABLE: RACE AND GENDER BOUND MEMORY AND THE QUEST FOR FEMALE VOICE AND IDENTITY IN AUDRE LORDE’S ZAMI AND JUNE JORDAN’S SOLDIER …………………………………32 1.1. THE ROLE OF THE IMMIGRANT FAMILY IN IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT: TRAUMA, DENIAL AND RACIAL UPLIFTING ………………………………41 1.2. REFLECTIONS ON (UN)CONVENTIONAL GENDER IDENTITIES, SISTERHOOD AND AWAKENINGS: QUEER IDENTITY ………....................59 CHAPTER 2: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MANIFESTOS: THE POLITICS OF LIBERATION IN JUNE JORDAN’S CIVIL WARS AND AUDRE LORDE’S SISTER OUTSIDER AND THE CANCER JOURNALS …………………………………………77 2.1. LANGUAGE VERSUS SILENCE: VOICE, POWER AND STRUGGLE ……...83 2.2. RACE AND GENDER POLITICS: THE INTERSECTIONALITY OF OPPRESSION ……………………………………...……………………………...94 x 2.3. THINKING ABOUT FEMINIST MOVEMENTS: AFRICAN AMERICAN FEMINISM AND COALITION POLITICS FROM COMMUNITY TO TRANSNATIONALITY ………………………………………………………...113 CONCLUSION .……..………………………………………………………………......122 WORKS CITED ...…..…………………………………………………………………..133 APPENDIX 1: ORIGINALITY REPORT ……………………………………………146 APPENDIX 2: ETHICS WAIVER FORM ……………………………………………148 1 INTRODUCTION The exclusion of women of color from the mainstream feminism of the 1960s and 70s, which prioritized the concerns of white middle class women and advocated their visibility and representation in the public and political spheres, paved the way for the African American Feminist Movement. Although prominent African American feminists such as Pauli Murray undertook crucial positions in the National Organization for Women (NOW), women of color remained outside Second Wave Feminism with their persistent and unresolved problems. The African American Feminist Movement, like other culture specific feminist movements such as Asian American and Chicana Feminism, emerged with manifestos that reflected shared experiences and unique perspectives which contrasted with the homogenizing tendency of mainstream white middle class feminism. White middle class feminists promoted an agenda that ignored the hardships of multicultural, biracial, working class and marginalized women who were victimized by racism, misogyny, violence, homophobia and conformist categorizations. They, in one way or another, benefited from white privilege. For this reason, African American feminists, activists and scholars like June Jordan and Audre Lorde reclaimed a racial, sexual and cultural identity by transforming differences into strengths through their politics. In other words, they engaged in the coalition politics of women-identified women. June Jordan and Audre Lorde confirm the multiple and intersectional nature of female self and identity in their life narratives. Jordan’s memoir and ethnic autobiography Soldier: A Poet’s Childhood (2001) is interwoven with June’s attempts to articulate her Caribbean immigrant parents’ conflicting aspirations and her encounters with racial and gender discrimination,