You must cite a minimum of 3 scholarly sources– news media articlesdo not count as scholarly sources, only peer reviewed journals, books,etc.
Your response should include considerable reflection on the pertinentcourse terms and concepts, failing to reference these consistentlythroughout will result in a deduction.
Week Two Prompt
We have stated that our primary theoretical framework in this coursein Intersectionality, which states that we should not view identity as’either/or’ but rather ‘both/and’ across different categories. From thispoint of view, we must work hard analytically to understand anindividual’s ‘Standpoint’ on the basis of their relationship tocategories of identity. Selecting at least two of the major categoriesof your own identity, discuss how those categories have intersected toshape your own life experiences, and how your experiences may be similaror different from others on the basis of one or both of thosecategories. A good example if Sojourner Truth’s speech “Ain’t I aWoman,” in which she points out that her status as a woman of colormeans she is not included in many of the conversations her fellow whitefeminists were having at the time. Speech Entitled “Ain’t I a Woman?”
by
Sojourner Truth
Delivered at the 1851 Women’s Convention in Akron,
Ohio
Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something
out of kilter. I think that ‘twixt the Negroes of the South and the women
at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty
soon. But what’s all this here talking about?
That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages,
and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody
ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best
place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have
ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head
me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a
man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a
woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to
slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus
heard me! And ain’t I a woman?
Then they talk about this thing in the head; what’s this they call it?
[member of audience whispers, “intellect”] That’s it, honey. What’s that
got to do with women’s rights or Negroes’ rights? If my cup won’t hold
but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn’t you be mean not to let me
have my little half measure full?
Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much
rights as men, ‘cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ
Sojourner Truth “Ain’t I Woman?”, Speech Delivered at Ohio Women’s Rights Convention, May 1851
come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a
woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.
If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world
upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it
back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it. The
men better let them.
Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain’t got nothing
more to say.
2
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