After finishing the first Mars book, that I spoke about yesterday, Iíve ritually (twice makes a ritual) returned to my habit of coming to the basement of the library and sitting in front of the window until the battery on my iPod dies, whilst doing some of the reading for this week. This entry represents my study break. Iím almost sad that I finished Red Mars, which means I get to tear through two feminist volumes. Today (thus far) is this rather awesome collection of third wave essays for my feminisms class; I have another two thirds to go, and plenty of time to get it done. Then the second wave book, which is shorter, and for Sociology Class; thanks to modernism, itíll inevitably easier to understand and absorb.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the course guide will be out very soon. Iím keeping my fingers crossed, so I hope that itíll all work out right; though I have a triage plans if things donít work out well.
Anyway, the topic at hand…
In 1979 Andre Lorde wrote an essay called ìThe Masterís Tools Will Not Dismantle the Masterís House.î Basically she says that if you want to affect change , you canít work within the system. The tools of oppression cannot be reversed in order to create positive change. I donít know, the title embodies the entire concept for me: feminists must approach the struggle for justice using fresh and unique approaches and methods to deconstruct patriarchy (and reconstruct social reality/theory). Lordeís more specific point was one of solidarity (as I remember). That one could not advocate for female liberation without arguing for gay and lesbian liberation; that one could not argue for racial equality without arguing for class equality, and that racial and class equality is very much a part of female liberation and feminism. Iíd also add that transgender rights are integral in this struggle.
I would argue that we need, from the beginning, to integrate and resolve the contradictions between coalition/solidarity work and affinity work. But balance of disparate but necessarily interrelated struggles is often lost between the cracks, so Iíll forgive it in this case.
Half of the post subject addressed, hereís the meat of the issue.
One of the big issues of the third wave is the transnationalization of feminism. And everyone goes a long with this and keeps saying ìwhat we need to work on is accepting all different kinds of feminisms and feminists. That feminism isnít about abortion, equal rights, economic freedom, and political parity, but itís about female empowerment in whatever issues are important to the individual feminist.
Ok, I can buy that. My issues arenít your issues, and your issues arenít mine; but because weíre both working for the same thing, we should support each other and collaborate when our issues overlap. It works, again itís more affinity-esque and less coalition (but then I think affinity works better on a smaller scale, and the coalition works better for the large scale, but thatís me. My feminism isnít your feminism; so maybe our struggle isnít one.) This will take some time to make sure it jives, because it doesnít fit completely, but I donít think thatís the issue at the moment.
The form that this decentralized transnational feminism takes most often is the proliferation of non-governmental organizations providing services to the third world. The movement of money across borders as part of a global economy.
I donít know about you, but this seems a lot like the masterís tools. In this context NGOs are empowering women yes, but mainly in terms of a western definition of power, which brings them into the global economy. What next? Bam! Right back where we started, because the cottage industry is just a new kind of dependence.
I think we need to find something a lot better before we dive head first into it.
There, one down. Next time (perhaps later tonight), as everyone is talking about the election that doesnít matter, I might just write something up about independent media and TealArt, as some of the other essays sort of relate to this subject that Iíve been pondering forever it seems. Anyway, cheers!
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For the first time in weeks Iíve spent several hours sitting in a chair reading. Iíve had a bunch of reading sitting over my head for almost three weeks, and while Iíve been able to stay on top of it for a while, I havenít been able to read very much for very long, without a looming deadline. Anyway, Iíve found some sort of groove, which however dorky it may sound is really making me feel better about my self and my studies.
In other school related news, it looks like both biology classes are going to transfer in, which means that I have 6.75 units (27 hours) on the books, with another unit (4 hours) will transfer in as soon as I figure out how to get AP scores to transfer in. I think sophomore standing is 7 units and up. Junior standing is 14 units with the first tier of distribution requirements. I talked to the bio-professor who basically exempted me from every introductory biology class. Thereís a ìbiological-issuesî class that I want to get into, but it might be really hard to get into (because itís a fluffy science for non-majors). Then again, having sophomore standing will give me a *slightly* higher priority. Iíve more or less decided on my classes for next semester. Introduction to Gender Studies; Psych 150 (Statistics); A feminist literature class (as a lit class); Some Biology Class that I havenít chosen; and then either another psych class (Psychology of Women if itís offered) or something like Weaving or something else.
Anyway. I think I broke out of my mid-semester/lunar eclipse related funk/slump sometime in the last few hours and Iím running up the hill.
At the moment Iím sitting in the basement of the library, taking a study break after a few hours of reading, using a desktop Mac, which is really cool. Iím slowly coming to terms with the fact that I probably need to supplement my computing situation I need to talk to Chris (cough, cough) about duel monitor setups. Part of me wants to get a desktop that I can use as a file server, the pragmatist in me wants to get a fire wire hub and a few fire wire drive enclosures and drives. I also like having a keyboard with real keys. Maybe Iíll break down and get an apple Bluetooth keyboard. I think Iím going to end up milking the work-study system for all itís worth (especially next semester), which isnít hard, and should give me a useable, though not excessive expendable income for technology and yarn purchases.
Speaking of work-study, Iím going to be the ìprogram assistantî for womenís and gender studies, or something. Itíll be great. Iím also going to a meeting for people who want to be R.As. The professor Iíll be working for is only here for a semester, so I donít know if that job will still be there (or be as awesome/sweet) when Catharine comes back from sabbatical. I *should* be able to get an R.A. job next year, (I think the possibility of getting a slot next semester is unlikely at best, but this place is known for some crazy stuff.)
Five hundred and some words into this entry and Iíve managed to not get to most of the subject matter that I set out. Lets try to change that.
The bulk of the reading I had to do for class tomorrow, is a huge chunk of a science fiction novel: Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. Itís an amazing pice, and itís kind of reminded me how much I really like science fiction. Which is an interesting thing to say on this campus, where the largest independent student group is ìBSFFAî (pronounced phonetically: ìbisph-faî) or the Beloit Science Fiction and Fantasy Association. BSSFA is slowly taking over a dorm; itís kind of funny. Anyway.
I like science fiction, Iíve discovered, and Robinsonís breed of the genre is just my kind of thing. My approach? Outlook? Perspective? Goal? Well whatever, I think that Robinson is trying to accomplish a lot of the same things in his science fiction that I would like to attempt. I think I almost want to work on Another Round again, which I havenít had a desire to do in a while. I heard myself say, that Iíll probably finish the draft of that one before I graduate. In retrospect this is probably an unrealistic and foolish deadline. The only saving grace of this prediction is that Iím going to start a meditative writing circle, where me and a bunch of other folks, will converge on the spirituality room, talk for maybe ten minutes about what weíre planning on writing on, and then do a minute or two of breathing and relaxation and then weíll write for an hour or two. Iíve done this kind of exercise a few times, and youíd be surprised how well it works.
As I think about it right now, itíd probably be best to avoid social theory. Maybe tomorrow.
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