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Teaching and Learning Philosophical “Special” Topics: Black Feminism and Intersectionality

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Black Women's Liberatory Pedagogies

Abstract

This chapter considers Black women’s pedagogies, including my approach to teaching a philosophy graduate seminar on “Black Feminism and Intersectionality,” along with lessons and insights gleaned from the course readings. We archive our experience, arguing that this course was distinctly transformative because we could, in Michele Russell’s words, “evoke and evaluate our collective memory of what is done to us, and what we do in turn.” This experience was shaped by the unique class dynamics created by demographics (our races, genders, sexual orientations, nationalities, etc. mattered for us) coupled with my pedagogical practices—the structure (student-led discussion), content (readings), and the intentional cultivation of an affirming community. Each co-author writes from her/his unique standpoint while remaining attentive to these guiding threads and themes interwoven throughout.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Course readings in order of appearance:

    • Gines, “Black Feminism and Intersectional Analyses: A Defense of Intersectionality” in Philosophy Today (2011).

    • Gines, “Race Women, Race Men and Early Expressions of Proto-Intersectionality, 1830s–1930s” in Why Race and Gender Still Matter: An Intersectional Approach (2014) edited by Namita Goswami, Maeve M. O’Donovan and Lisa Yount.

    • Lena Gunnarsson, “A Defense of the Category ‘Women’” in Feminist Theory (2011).

    • Kimberlé Crenshaw’s “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics” (1989).

    • Kimberlé Crenshaw’s “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color” (1991).

    • Guy-Sheftall’s Words of Fire: An Anthology of African American Feminist Thought (1995). (Focus on Maria Stewart, Anna Julia Cooper, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Elise Johnson McDougals, Sadie Mossel Alexander, Francis Beale, Combahee River Collective).

    • Deborah King’s “Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness: The Context of Black Feminist Ideology” (1988).

    • Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Anna Julia Cooper (by Kathryn T. Gines).

    • This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color (1981) edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa.

    • All of the Women Are White, All of the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women’s Studies (1982) edited by Gloria Hull, Patricia Bell-Scott, and Barbara Smith

    • Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s “Can the Subaltern Speak?” (1988).

    • Angela Davis, Women, Race, and Class (1981).

    • Patricia Hill Collins , Black Feminist Thought (1991).

    • Patricia Hill Collins , “Its All in the Family: Intersections of Race, Gender, and Nation.”

    • Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism (1991) edited by Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Ann Russo, and Lourdes Torres. (Especially: Mohanty, Russo, and Johnson-Odim).

    • Mohanty “Transnational Feminist Crossings: On Neoliberalism and Radical Critique” (SIGNS 2013).

    These may be considered “typical” texts in some disciplines, but they are not on most philosophy syllabi. Students frequently asked, “How have we not read this before?”

  2. 2.

    In the U.S. context, this problematic may find its “roots” in the necessity of white women “vouching” for the narratives of Black female slaves. Consider Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Oliver, 2001, 100–104).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, Penn State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Kathryn T. Gines, Edward O’Byrn, Eyo Ewara & William Paris

  2. Geography and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    A. Marie Ranjbar

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  1. Kathryn T. Gines
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  4. Eyo Ewara
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Northeastern Illinois University , Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Olivia N. Perlow

  2. Northeastern Illinois University , Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Durene I. Wheeler

  3. Northeastern Illinois University , Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Sharon L. Bethea

  4. Northeastern Illinois University , Chicago, Illinois, USA

    BarBara M. Scott

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Gines, K.T., Ranjbar, A.M., O’Byrn, E., Ewara, E., Paris, W. (2018). Teaching and Learning Philosophical “Special” Topics: Black Feminism and Intersectionality. In: Perlow, O., Wheeler, D., Bethea, S., Scott, B. (eds) Black Women's Liberatory Pedagogies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65789-9_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65789-9_8

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