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4
As this project is conceived of as a cultural studies project (as
opposed to a traditionally literary analysis), I engage multiple frameworks
to explore the writings of the women poets of the Black Arts/Black Power
and Chicano movements. Literary and textual analyses are prominent but
so are history, legal scholarship (particularly Critical Race Theory),
Rhetoric and even some psychology. I take my cues from the women
themselves, who in their own writings engage a variety of genres (beyond
poetry) and methodologies. To only use one lense through which to view
their work is do a disservice to the dynamic and multifaceted writings
they produced.
Gilles Deleuze’s theory of “becoming” (more specifically,
“becoming-woman”) hinges on the idea of literature as a space that –
however temporarily – allows for experimentation and a liberation of the
body from subjectivity.5 For my purposes, it is useful to think about the
ways poetry allowed women to articulate new subjectivities that were not
bound by race, gender, class, or sexual orientation in the same ways they
had been before. For example, literature allowed Gloria Anzaldúa to
develop a borderlands theory that not only redefined what it meant to be
Chicano/a but also lesbian, feminist, female. Likewise, Alice Walker’s
womanism redefined feminist discourse by opening feminism to women
of color in new ways. It is important to note that ways that the women
differ from Deleuze’s theory, however. Not simply a temporary, literary
Object Description
| Title | "As shelters against the cold": women writers of the Black Arts and Chicano movements, 1965-1978 |
| Author | Ryder, Ulli Kira |
| Author email | uryder@usc.edu; uryder@gmail.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | American Studies & Ethnicity |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2008-08-27 |
| Date submitted | 2008 |
| Restricted until | Restricted until 27 October 2010. |
| Date published | 2010-10-27 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | McKenna, Teresa |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Sanchez, George J. Johnson, Dana |
| Abstract | This dissertation examines the work of women writers in the Black Arts and Chicano movements during the years 1965-1978. I argue that understanding the intersectional nature of the women's experiences is crucial for understanding their literary output. Further, I argue that Chicanas and African American women of this era challenged homogenous notions of community and racial identity and that we can trace the development of the Third World feminism and multiculturalism that came to the fore in the 1980s to this earlier period. Thus, this study also impacts the way we conceptualize identity formation and the creation of the literary canon. Investigating the ways in which these women integrated nationalist and feminist rhetoric and activism in their work is crucial for a full understanding of this critical period in U.S. history. At stake is an understanding of how Chicana and African American women in the United States have formed identities and communities; struggled for liberation and equality; and become part of the U.S. literary canon. |
| Keyword | Black Power; Black Arts movement; Chicano movement; civil rights; racial identity formation; womanism; borderlands theory; feminism; Third World feminism; nationalism; intersectionality |
| Geographic subject (country) | USA |
| Coverage date | 1965/1978 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m1698 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Ryder, Ulli Kira |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Ryder-2415 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume40/etd-Ryder-2415.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 9 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 4 As this project is conceived of as a cultural studies project (as opposed to a traditionally literary analysis), I engage multiple frameworks to explore the writings of the women poets of the Black Arts/Black Power and Chicano movements. Literary and textual analyses are prominent but so are history, legal scholarship (particularly Critical Race Theory), Rhetoric and even some psychology. I take my cues from the women themselves, who in their own writings engage a variety of genres (beyond poetry) and methodologies. To only use one lense through which to view their work is do a disservice to the dynamic and multifaceted writings they produced. Gilles Deleuze’s theory of “becoming” (more specifically, “becoming-woman”) hinges on the idea of literature as a space that – however temporarily – allows for experimentation and a liberation of the body from subjectivity.5 For my purposes, it is useful to think about the ways poetry allowed women to articulate new subjectivities that were not bound by race, gender, class, or sexual orientation in the same ways they had been before. For example, literature allowed Gloria Anzaldúa to develop a borderlands theory that not only redefined what it meant to be Chicano/a but also lesbian, feminist, female. Likewise, Alice Walker’s womanism redefined feminist discourse by opening feminism to women of color in new ways. It is important to note that ways that the women differ from Deleuze’s theory, however. Not simply a temporary, literary |
