Response..

In our department we often theorize positionality and intersectionality as it relates to women living in a Westernized society.  Each week in this class we are reminded of this, and are challenged to relinquish this perspective when analyzing the readings. This week I was able to do so in regards to the complexities of space and solidarity. What I knew about space prior to reading Massey solely reflected my subjectivity as an African American woman. In an effort to bring attention to the ways in which race and gender complicate space in my life, I did not realize that I negated the way class does also. How so? Let me explain. Throughout this semester I have used our blogging assignments as public displays of reflexivity in regards to the time I have spent studying abroad. I have spoken about the ways in which my race and gender have allowed me to navigate certain spaces to both my advantage and detriment. I did not however think about the way class does as well. During moments of discomfort I was reassured knowing they would be short lived. I knew that when we left Cuba or the DR that I would go back to using my electronics, drinking water out of the faucet, taking a hot shower, and having the luxury of eating whenever I desired. Even abroad I had that luxury for the most part, but there were other Black women navigating those same spaces that didn’t. Massey states:

 For different social groups and different individuals are placed in very distinct ways in relation to these flows and interconnections. This point concerns not merely the issue of who moves and who doesn’t, although that is an important element of it; it is also about power in relation to the flows and movement. Different social groups have distinct relationships to this anyway differentiated mobility: some are in charge of it more than others; some initiate flows and movement, others don’t; some are more on the receiving end of it than others; some are effectively imprisoned by it (Massey 3).

As a Black middle class American, I am generally never imprisoned by space in the same way that let’s say Ms. Tiny or Ms. B was. Although I too live in a racialized patriarchal society, I do not have to navigate a gendered work space through a veil of toughness to survive violence and harassment. At least not at the moment, nor have I ever to that degree. I have literally gotten through customs without having to document certain items (I definitely should have) because people don’t perceive me as a trickster or societal nuisance due to my occupation. I guess what I am trying to say is that although we all participate in globalization whether it be as the consumer or as a distributor, it is obvious that it disproportionately affects certain groups of people more than others. It is not enough for me to acknowledge the commonalities of Black women, without also acknowledging the different ways in which we navigate certain spaces.

            I really appreciated Mohanty for her perspective on solidarity as it relates to women workers. Until now I had never heard the term “culture of subversion”, and how it is essentially acquired practice in “concealed forms of rebelling”. The Korean Women’s Workers association did an amazing job of using a site of oppression (factory) as a site of resistance, and how in various other places women did the same. Through the “culture of subversion” alone, I can see an entry point in how women who are also enduring similar conditions in America can create solidarity with other women in the “Third World”.