Audre Lordes Theory of Intersectionality and Affective Politics

This article discusses Audre Lordes theory of intersectionality and affective politics, rereading Lordes Sister Outsider (1984) and other essays. Focusing on the ways in which Lorde elaborates her multiple positionings in American society in the 1970s and 1980s and, in particular, in her contemporary social movements including womens movements, African American civil rights movements, and the early gay and lesbian movements, I argue that Lorde makes a pioneering contribution to feminist understandings of intersections among gender, class, race, sexuality, age, etc. I also argue that Lordes in-depth study of emotional dynamics between African American women profoundly enriches her intersectional theory by illuminating where and in which ways her contemporary feminists became reluctant and blind to recognize differences between women. A pioneering text of intersectionality, Sister Outsider reminds us that our contemporary theory of intersectionality is firmly rooted in the social movements from the late 1960s to the 1980s.이 논문은 한신대학교 학술연구비 지원에 의하여 연구되었음