Feminism in Coalition: Thinking with U. S. Women of Color Feminism

In Feminism in Coalition Liza Taylor examines how US women of color feminists’ coalitional politics provides an indispensable resource to contemporary political theory, feminist studies, and intersectional social justice activism. Taylor charts the theorization of coalition in the work of Bernice Johnson Reagon, Audre Lorde, Barbara Smith, the Combahee River Collective, Gloria Anzaldúa, Cherríe Moraga, and others. For these activist-scholars, coalition is a dangerous struggle that emerges from a shared political commitment to undermining oppression and an emphasis on self-transformation. Taylor shows how their coalitional understandings of group politics, identity, consciousness, and scholarship have transformed how activists and theorists build alliances across race, class, gender, sexuality, faith, and ethnicity to tackle systems of domination. Their coalitional politics enrich current discussions surrounding the impetus and longevity of effective activism, present robust theoretical accounts of political subject formation and political consciousness, and demonstrate the promise of collective modes of scholarship. In this way, women of color feminists have been formulating solutions to long-standing problems in political theory. By illustrating coalition’s vitality to a variety of practical and philosophical interdisciplinary discussions, Taylor encourages us to rethink feminist and political theory. "In Feminism in Coalition Liza Taylor examines how U.S. women of color feminists' coalitional politics provides an indispensable resource to contemporary political theory, feminist studies, and intersectional social justice activism. Taylor charts the theorization of coalition in the work of Bernice Johnson Reagon, Audre Lorde, Barbara Smith, the Combahee River Collective, Gloria AnzalduÌ1a, CherriÌ1e Moraga, and others. For these activist-scholars, coalition is a dangerous struggle that emerges from a shared political commitment to undermining oppression and an emphasis on self-transformation. Taylor shows how their coalitional understandings of group politics, identity, consciousness, and scholarship have transformed how activists and theorists build alliances across race, class, gender, sexuality, faith, and ethnicity to tackle systems of domination. Their coalitional politics enrich current discussions surrounding the impetus and longevity of effective activism, present robust theoretical accounts of political subject formation and political consciousness, and demonstrate the promise of collective modes of scholarship. In this way, women of color feminists have been formulating solutions to long-standing problems in political theory. By illustrating coalition's vitality to a variety of practical and philosophical interdisciplinary discussions, Taylor encourages us to rethink feminist and political theory."-- Provided by publisher project_muse_103660-3259032 1 10.1515_9781478023784 2 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction 12 1. From Rosa Luxemburg to the Combahee River Collective: Spontaneous Coalition as a Precursor to Intersectional Marxism and Politico-Ethical Coalition Politics 44 2. Women of Color Feminism and Politico-Ethical Coalition Politics: Recentering the Politics of Coalition with Reagon, Smith, Combahee, and Lorde 78 3. Coalition from the Inside Out: Struggling toward Coalitional Identity and Developing a Coalitional Consciousness with Lorde, Anzaldúa, Sandoval, and Pratt 117 4. Writing Feminist Theory, Doing Feminist Politics: Rethinking Collective Feminist Authorship with This Bridge Called My Back 161 5. The Women’s March on Washington and Politico-Ethical Coalitional Opportunities in the Age of Trump 200 Conclusion: Lessons for Contemporary and Future Feminist Activists 236 Notes 260 References 270 Index 288 Liza Taylor examines how U.S. women of color feminists' coalitional collective politics of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s is an indispensable resource to contemporary political theory, feminist studies, and intersectional social justice activism.