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Unghosting Apparitional (Lesbian) History

Erasures of Black Lesbian Feminism

Michelle Moravec, Author

This comment was written by KEW on 10 Dec 2013.

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Tracing the Processes of Erasure

I hope you will be okay with me having more questions than I have answers. I say this because I am aware of black feminist thought and its importance but I am by NO means an expert in the field. Black feminist thought courses weren't taught in my undergrad institution and if they were taught at my grad institution I missed it in my focus on my research. Because of that, my questions might be addressed in the scholarship or even in your larger work but you got me interested so here goes.

The social historian in me wants to know more about who Bonnie Johnson was, what she wrote, how she came to be a part of the project, what happened to her in life, and how/why more people don't know about her. The same questions could be applied to the other women in her cohort of feminists. Tracing her work both in and out of the spotlight of publication might help to reveal what happened to these women and why. In essence, I want to know more about the processes of erasure--was she pushed out, dismissed out, ignored out or did she simply leave of her own accord because she wanted to do something else like fulfill other responsibilities of life, caregiving, health, etc? I ask these questions thinking about the Politico piece criticizing Michelle Obama and the really smart intersectional feminists' responses to it. Indeed, any work on unghosting must also investigate the ghosting. This seems important because many people talk about the erasure of the feminist work of black women, lesbians, and even black lesbians but has anyone investigated the process(es) of erasure? Were there crashing symbol moments or was it death by a thousand cuts? Did the culture of dissemblance raise its head? Did activists move on to do other work that was important to them?

See, more questions than suggestions. I hope it helps. :)
This page comments on:
Beyond the Footnotes (10 December 2013)
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Discussion of "Tracing the Processes of Erasure"

YES erasure

yes indeedy, this is in a way a companion to a piece I have on erasing. I have tried to hint at where I think it happened, but the how and the why, remain open, which was sort of what I wanted to do here because of issues I raise in conclusion. I've been THAT researcher who comes knocking (virtually via email) and I know that is sometimes upsetting. I'm also totally intrigued with what will happen (all too) soon as these activists die. I haven't decided what I will do yet in the end here with this piece. Thanks SO much for commenting!

Posted on 10 December 2013, 4:03 pm by michelle moravec  |  Permalink

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