Sojourning for Freedom is the kind of
work I always love to read, specifically due to its topic. Any work that
recovers the actions and thoughts of radical women of color, pre-1960s, is of
great value to academia and the public. McDuffie used archival materials, such
as personal papers, periodicals, FBI surveillance files, and the records of the
US Communist Party and other non-Communist-affiliated black protest groups, to
shed light on the experiences of black women communists and their influence on
the black feminism of the 1960s. He also attempted to fill the gaps from
archival sources by collecting oral histories from those women he centers in
his analysis, as well as their spouses, friends, and family members. In the
end, this monograph is what McDuffie calls “an alternative genealogy.” Beyond
the actual content of his book, McDuffie’s methodology offers several insights
that I can connect to my own work, even though I am not doing historical work.
I was particularly interested in his approach to collectivities, mobility, and historical
progression.
McDuffie
notes that previous work on Old Left radical black women had largely centered
on individual women. His work is a wider analysis of black leftist women’s
collective engagement with black radicalism. He says, “Calling attention to
black left feminism demonstrated how black women collectively forged their own
coherent, free-standing, radical praxis within this larger black radical
tradition” (15). He emphasizes the importance of black women’s relationships,
and it was through these relationships that black leftist thought emerged,
rather than a result of an extraordinary individual.
I intend to
take a similar approach in my work. I want to tap into the collective
identities of Latina artist in Chicago and San Antonio. As individuals, their
racialization and gender results in marginalization both within the art world
and their everyday lives. So, they often turn to other Latina artists for
support. Through these connections they are able to share knowledge but also
create alternative spaces of their own. It is these collective actions and
affinities that I am most intrigued by. What kind of knowledge can we all learn
from them to address injustice? McDuffie mentions Chela Sandoval’s theory of
oppositional consciousness. Black left feminists’ oppositional consciousness
led them to create collective identities that were always in the making and led
them on multiple paths through the Communist Left. So, what does current Latina
social justice artist oppositional consciousness look like? What paths have
they traveled?
Along with
ideological and tactical mobility, black left feminists were also physically mobile.
They collectively pursued a transnational approach. The influences on these
women extended outside of the US borders. As a result, McDuffie follows these
women to the Soviet Union, because “traveling to the Soviet Union was vital to
nurturing black leftist women’s global outlooks” (18). He does not allow US
borders to bound his inquiry, and weaves transnational processes within his
narrative.
I will be
focusing on artists in Chicago and San Antonio, but that does not mean I should
only look at processes within those cities. The may travel to other cities and
other countries. Beyond traveling, they may have strong connections in other places
that are important for their own consciousness. For example, the artist I’m
currently working with has done work in Mexico City and Iceland. These
experiences have no doubt played important roles in her understanding of
herself and her work. I think it will be important to consider the role of
technology, specifically social media, in these artists building and
maintaining transnational networks.
Lastly,
McDuffie does not take a view of history that sees it as progressive and
linear. Instead, he says, “this book highlights both the breaks and the
continuities in the black freedom movement and black women’s struggles before
and after the red scare by examining the personal and political costs of
anti-Communism on black left feminists” (22). Contrary to the wave model of development,
McDuffie takes an approach that understands the history of feminist thought as
filled with moments of simultaneous disruption and continuity. Black left
feminist did pass on their knowledge to the next generation, but various
social, political, and personal events also created various disruptions in
collective identity formation. We tend to want to create clean, progressive
narratives about the topics we research. McDuffie shows that this isn’t necessary.
While I am
not doing historical research, I still think his methodology is useful. The
artists I work with are not necessarily always progressing towards something
better. They may have experiences that serve as shifting points. They may make mistakes
and learn from them. Some of their strategies in working with the state or
non-profits may not go the way they expected. It will be helpful to take this
into consideration when doing my research. Some things may progress while
others are met with constant breaks.
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