Unbearableness in the post-colonial, post-capitalist world
monday musing: august 28th
Welcome to the end of the summer. This summer has been busy. I’ve been working two jobs, working on this newsletter and trying to keep my hobbies going. But alas, my first day of school starts this Wednesday and I’ll be back to writing social work papers in my “free time”.
This newsletter has been a great outlet for my obsession with feminist theory. As I continue to expand my knowledge base, I came across a decolonial feminist theorist, Sylvia Wynter. Sylvia Wynter engages with Black studies from a feminist perspective.
Sociogenesis “offers a way of thinking about humanity not only ‘as praxis,’ as lived in a time and a place, but also as a very sensory encounter” (Parker, 2018). According to Wynter, who builds on Fanon, the world is divided into humans and non-humans. Wynter identifies a certain Man whose identity is produced by denying one’s own humanity. To be cis, white, masculinity, able-bodied, heterosexual, upper class, etc. (to have privilege in our society), you must subscribe to an ideology (a psychosis) that denies humanity to femininity, transness, Blackness, queerness, disability, etc. This creates a paradox- to be considered human (aka worthy of respect) you must deny your “bodiment” (aka your humanity). Wynter’s construction of Man “offers a philosophy of whiteness [...] as an ecologically alienated, sense-denying way of life” (Parker, 2018).
From what I understand– which is limited– Wynter’s analysis allows for a different approach to feminist thought and activism. She introduces “feminism in its own name”, a type of feminism that does not reproduce the hierarchy identified in her work. Wynter writes, “feminism in its own name takes the abduction schema of classarchy as the subject of its inquiry”, which understands that oppression exists through different axes of supremacy (gender, race, sexuality), but can be understood through a class analysis. As in, there is an economic class, gender class, race class, and so on in our society, that we all engage with. This framework recognizes intersectionality and the complicated nature of human experience, as we can experience oppression and also oppress others.
Decolonial feminism requires “an autonomous frame of reference” (Wynter) which means that it exists outside the philosophy of Man, described previously. Decolonial feminism must be aware of how our thinking has been shaped by colonialism, whiteness and patriarchy. Key to her analysis is the “unbearable being” in this current system of white heteropatriarchy.
The “unbearable being” describes the feeling state of those who exist outside the ideal Man. At the same time, an unbearable being is also in direct opposition to the hegemonic ideals. Therefore, unbearable beings offer an alternative to the current system and way of being. Their existence upholds the hierarchy, as the Man is constructed as the opposite of the Other, and is a threat to the hierarchy.
A great example of this double meaning of “unbearable being” is a movement I studied during my senior year of college: Alianza Mujeres Viequenses.
The relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico is a form of contemporary colonialism, with the United States government controlling the economic and political functions of the island while Puerto Ricans do not have access to the full privileges of United States citizenship. Explicitly situating their identities at the intersections of race, class, gender and nationality, Puerto Rican women have historically been involved in the development of anti-imperialist feminism and transnational solidarity.
Using Wynter’s theory allows for an expansion of the term “feminism.” Intersectional theory confronts the “reproduction of normative accounts of woman that always imply a white feminist subject” (Muñoz 1999, 8) which contributes to an exclusive version of feminism that “can only consider blackness at the expense of feminism or vice versa” (Muñoz 1999, 8). Therefore, many women of color have been skeptical of the term itself as feminist movements have defined “the meaning of gender in terms of middle-class, white experiences, and in terms of internal racism, classism and homophobia” (Mohanty 1991, 7), reproducing cultural imperialism. Since feminism has implied a white subject (similar to the Man), the lived experiences of women of color have existed on the periphery of mainstream feminist movements.
The United States Navy began occupying two-thirds of Vieques, a small island off of the Puerto Rican mainland, in 1941. With bases situated in the center of the island, the occupation disrupted daily life, using the land for military exercises in the name of the United States’ national security. The naval bases proved dangerous to civilian workers, the environment, and nearby communities. In response to the tragic civilian death of David Sanes Rodriguez, caused by naval bombing practice, on April 19, 1999, Judith Conde, Gladys Rivera Cintrón, and Miriam Sobá founded the Alianza de Mujeres Viequenses (Vieques Women’s Alliance).
As second class citizens, residents of Vieques experienced the unbearableness of their situation. Many men left the island in search for work, since the naval occupation destroyed the fishing industry on the island. Vieques women in the Alliance felt that they endured a specific gendered burden from the occupation, as Miriam Sobá explained in an interview: “we see and deal with the emotional effects, the psychological and social dimension, not only the political” (Suárez Toro 1999a). Sobá underscores the need for specifically feminist organizing on Vieques by connecting women’s perspectives to not only political issues but also social and health issues, engaging in community caretaking.
The Alliance was the first women-led and women-focused organization within the movement to demilitarize the island of Vieques. Made up of a diverse group of Vieques women, they organized civil disobedience protests against the military base, resulting in a powerful victory when the United States Navy left the island in 2003. Leading large scale protests, their woman-centered framework asserted that, as women, “Vieques es nuestra casa y por eso la defendemos” (Vieques is our home, so we will defend it) (Sobá 2000). They publicly drew upon the role of women as caretakers in the domestic sphere, la casa. The Vieques Women’s Alliance’s ability to frame the entire island of Vieques as their “home” and therefore under their realm of influence, not only validated the role of women’s voices in resistance but was also extremely effective and subversive against the United States military.
Feminist organizing by the Alliance directly responded to cultural expectations of womanhood while utilizing feminine associations with domesticity and peace against the masculine and violent United States military. Additionally, their movement was not limited to a gender analysis. They understood sexism’s connection to classism, racism and as constructed co-constitutively with imperialism. They used their Blackness, femininity and Otherness against the system. The unbearableness of their situation moved them to become unbearable to the status quo by taking up space at the Naval base.
As a result of ongoing popular protests, Clinton attempted to negotiate with the population of Vieques as the population declined a $90 million economic incentive in exchange for indefinite military use of Vieques. However, the population was extremely set on demilitarizing the island. In July 2001, an informal referendum was held on Vieques, resulting in 70% of the population voting for the Navy to leave immediately. In response, President Bush stated that the Navy would halt use in February 2002 and leave the island by May 2003 (Global Nonviolent Action Database).
The peaceful protests by Alianza de Mujeres Viequenses weaponized the Other in a white heteropatriarchal occupation by the United States military. As I better understand Wynter’s theory, I will explore this case study further as a “feminism in its own name.”