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Contributions to the Third-World Feminist Discourse
Around the 1960s, Second-wave feminism became centered around discussions and debates about capitalism as a “biased, discriminatory, and unfair” institution, especially within the context of the rise of Globalization in the coming decades. Third-wave feminism emerged in the 1990s after calls for “a more differentiated feminism” by first world women of color and third world women, such as Audre Lorde, who maintained their critiques of first world feminism for tending to veer toward "Third-World homogenization.” This term was coined by radical dependency theorist, Andre Gunder Frank, to describe the inconsideration of the unique histories of developing countries (in the process of forming development agendas)  Audre Lorde was critical of the first world feminist movement “for downplaying sexual, racial, and class differences” and the unique power structures and cultural factors which vary by region, nation, community, etc. Other feminist scholars of this period, like Chandra Talpade Mohanty, echoed Lorde’s sentiments. Collectively they called for a “feminist politics of location, which theorized that women were subject to particular assemblies of oppression, and therefore that all women emerged with particular rather than generic identities” While they encouraged a global community of women, Audre Lorde, in particular, felt the Cultural homogenization of third-world women could only lead to a disguised form of oppression with its own forms of "othering" (Other (philosophy)) women in developing nations into figures of deviance and non-actors in theories of their own development. Audre Lorde cautioned against the “institutionalized rejection of difference” in her essay, “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference,” fearing that when “...we do not develop tools for using human difference as a springboard for creative change within our lives [,] we speak not of human difference, but of human deviance”. Lorde saw this already happening with the lack of inclusion of literature from women of color in the second-wave feminist discourse. She found that “the literature of women of Color [was] seldom included in women’s literature courses and almost never in other literature courses, nor in women’s studies as a whole” and pointed to the “othering” of women of color and women in developing nations as the reason. By homogenizing these communities and ignoring their difference, “...women of Color become ‘other,’ the outside whose experiences and tradition is too ‘alien’ to comprehend”, and thus, prevailingly unworthy of scholarly attention and differentiated scholarship. Audre Lorde called for the embracing of these differences. In the same essay, she proclaimed, “now we must recognize difference among women who are our equals, neither inferior nor superior, and devise ways to use each others’ difference to enrich our visions and our joint struggles” Doing so would lead to more inclusive and thus, more effective global feminist goals. Lorde theorized that true development in Third World communities would and even “the future of our earth may depend upon the ability of all women to identify and develop new definitions of power and new patterns of relating across differences.” In other words, the individual voices and concerns of women and color and women in developing nations would be the first step in attaining the autonomy with the potential to develop and transform their communities effectively in the age (and future) of Globalization. In a keynote speech at the National Third-World Gay and Lesbian Conference on October 13th, 1979 titled, “When will the ignorance end?” Lorde reminded and cautioned the attendees’ “There is a wonderful diversity of groups within this conference, and a wonderful diversity between us within those groups. That diversity can be a generative force, a source of energy fueling our visions of action for the future. We must not let diversity be used to tear us apart from each other, nor from our communities that is the mistake they made about us. I do not want us to make it ourselves….and we must never forget those lessons: that we cannot separate our oppressions, nor yet are they the same” In other words, while common experiences in racism, sexism, and homophobia had brought the group together and that commonality could not be ignored, there must still be a recognition of their individualized humanity. Years later, on August 27th, 1983, Audre Lorde delivered an address apart of the “Litany of Commitment” at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. “Today we march,” she said, “lesbians and gay men and our children, standing in our own names together with all our struggling sisters and brothers here and around the world, in the Middle East, in Central America, in the Caribbean and South Africa, sharing our commitment to work for a joint livable future. We know we do not have to become copies of each other in order to be able to work together. We know that when we join hands across the table of our difference, our diversity gives us great power. When we can arm ourselves with the strength and vision from all of our diverse communities, then we will in truth all be free at last.” Afro-German feminist scholar and author, Dr. Marian Kraft interviewed Audre Lorde in 1986 to discuss a number of her literary works and poems. In this interview, Audre Lorde articulated hope for the next wave of feminist scholarship and discourse. When asked by Miriam Kraft, “Do you see any development of the awareness about the importance of differences within the white feminist movement?” Lorde replied with both critiques and hope; “Well, the feminist movement, the white feminist movement, has been notoriously slow to recognize that racism is a feminist concern, not one that is altruistic, but one that is part and parcel of feminist consciousness... I think, in fact, though, that things are slowing changing and that there are white women now who recognize that in the interest of genuine coalition, they must see that we are not the same. Black feminism is not white feminism in Blackface. It is an intricate movement coming out of the lives, aspirations, and realities of Black women. We share somethings with white women, and there are other things we do not share. We must be able to come together around those things we share.” Dr. Miriam Kraft summarized Lorde’s position when reflecting on the interview; “Yes, we have different historical, social, and cultural backgrounds, different sexual orientations; different aspirations and visions; different skin colors and ages. But we share common experiences and a common goal. Our experiences are rooted in the oppressive forces of racism in various societies, and our goal is our mutual concern to work toward ‘a future which has not yet been’ in Audre’s words.”

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