Abstract
This paper explores the emancipatory potentials of American women writers of color for victims of gender, class, and the ethnocentric ideologies of racism, colonialism and nationalism. Their struggle against multiple oppressors, on one hand, drive them to form alliances with different oppressed groups such as laborers, homosexuals, the colonized people, immigrants and various ethnic minorities. On the other hand, cultural and ethnic identities are redefined on the basis of heterogeneity rather than homogeneity to cultivate tolerance, interdependence and mutual respect; gender roles are reconsidered in the light of an androgynous ideology, which views men and women as equal partners who should live in harmony but not in conflict; social classes are deconstructed to redress the injustices women and laborers have endured because of their gender, ethnic or racial differences. The plurality and heterogeneity of cultural, ethnic and gendered identities which women writers of color develop are extended to their writing whose language, content, and style are innovated and used as effective strategies to empower and emancipate subaltern groups. Their writing, therefore, assumes an inclusive character in which sexual, cultural and ethnic boundaries disappear, and interracial, intercultural, interethnic and intersexual dialogue is promoted.
Highlights
My paper argues that American multiethnic women’s writing reflects upon the socio-cultural and economic standing of American women of color and relates the reformation of their sociopolitical roles and reconstruction of their ethnic identities within a multi-cultural environment to the triggering experiences of alienation and subjugation in nationalist and patriarchal societies
Relevant to the arguments made and questions raised in this paper is the theory of the Third World feminism which arose in response to the hegemonic discourse of the mainstream Anglo-American feminism and sought to address the particular concerns of women in the Third World countries and minority ethnic communities in the United States and elsewhere
Ogbuehi further views literature as a source of empowerment in her assumption that “literature, that great mirror of society, is a source of empowerment for women. It provides them the avenue for self-expression. Women have fought their wars with their pens and have changed social attitudes and entrenched anachronistic views about women through writing.” (45) Literature in this sense has the potentials to break the walls of silence characterizing women’s age-long indifference about their physical oppression, sexual exploitation and social subordination
Summary
My paper argues that American multiethnic women’s writing reflects upon the socio-cultural and economic standing of American women of color and relates the reformation of their sociopolitical roles and reconstruction of their ethnic identities within a multi-cultural environment to the triggering experiences of alienation and subjugation in nationalist and patriarchal societies. American multiethnic women’s writing, I contend, has the potentials to empower victims of gender, class, race, and ethnocentrism, drastically change the sociocultural landscapes of the American society and develop a more diverse and pluralistic culture that appreciates difference and reinforces coexistence and cooperation among various ethnic groups. Kingston’s Woman Warrior, Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Viramontes’ The Moths reveal the writers’ firm determination to defy sexist, classist and ethnic oppression, and their repressed desire to bring about socio-cultural changes and redefine ethnocultural and gender identifications.
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