POWERPLAY RESEARCH PAGE
Hannah Sterke

A study of Audre Lorde

Lorde was a woman who never truly felt at home in a community. As a lesbian black woman she was either deemed an outcast for being gay in a black environment of being black in a white environment. She knows what it is like to be an outsider, hence she wrote a book called sister outsider.

I've read bits and pieces of the Master's tools (not everything) and want to discuss what I've read.
- One thing I noted was her description of what is called 'female hysteria'. This is already something going on among white women but is even worse among black women. It is the stigma that only white men are allowed to become angry, once a black woman becomes angry it is labelled as 'primitive, hysteric or labile. This is proven by examples like Serena Williams, who doesn't hide her passion during her heated matches. Or historically speaking: Angela Davis. Who was even put on an FBI most wanted list because white America was scared of her. Of her intelligence and how she cleverly put it to use in her protests.
- Another thing I appreciate about Lorde was her small acts of rebellion. I read in an article that she would use capital letters for words like 'Woman' or 'Black'. Normally this is done for a word like 'God' so I thought it amicable that she would fight oppression in the form of language. It's a clever way of showing you let anyone be condescending of think of you as 'less'.

After reading quite some stories and articles about Lorde's life I still didn't fully grasp the meaning of 'The master's tolls will never dismantle the master's house', so I asked an English major to explain the full meaning. She also gave me recommendations of others books to read about colonialism like 'The Bluest Eye'.

The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison

The excerpts I read from 'The Bluest Eye' were something quite shocking. I was familiar with the act of wanting to look like another beauty standard from friends in Korea, where it is completely normalised to change your eyelids for example to fit the western ideal for example. But the need for Pecola (the main character in the novel) to have 'the bluest eye' is a step further.Especially In the historical context and comparing yourself to people around you. Pecola is heavily influenced by Shirtley Temple and girls on packaging. She doesn't even want to look in the mirror. The extent of racial self-loathing is something a white woman wouldn't be able to understand.

What I find interesting is that the tables have turned to a certain degree where now black beauty is admired. Where people want to touch certain hairstyles for example(albeit without permission). This is something Morrison warned about a long time ago as well. It's wonderful that black is now considered beautiful but that wasn't always the case. It is important to not forget how in the earlier days the mainstream perception of beauty was quite different.

Another interesting thing to note is the hierarchy of black people in the novel. How a family (who is also black) refers to themselves as 'coloured' and thereby consider themselves of better worth. This somehow reminds of Sister Outsider too. How there is still differences within an oppressed group but still doesn't stand together to change it.

What I've learned from the DJ Scholarship article:

- Sampling is fine as long as you credit the original artist and respect their legacy. Immerse yourself in who they are/were, read liner notes and put them at the foreground instead of yourself.

-Don't tell their story but act as an ally.

On academic writing:

What kind of discussion does our topic open? Where do you find your sources and how do you use them?

It is important to explore different kinds of writing, opinion needs to be grounded and both sides of the argument should be studied.