Combahee River Collective

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Combahee River Collective was an American group that helped shape the discourse on multiple oppression from the standpoint of black lesbian feminists . It was founded in Boston in 1974 .

Founder was Barbara Smith , who also gave the name. The group was named after the Combahee River , on which 750 black slaves were freed in 1863 under the leadership of Harriet Tubman .

The group advocated the strategy of strategic essentialism , which allowed them to pursue multiple identity politics. They called for a discussion of racism in the US feminist movement .

The Combahee River Collective coined the term identity politics . According to the collective's manifesto of April 1977, identity politics is the best means of combating “racial, sexual, heterosexual and class oppression” and their multiple overlaps

literature

  • Combahee River Collective (1982): A Black Feminist Statement. In: Hull, Gloria T .; Scott, Patricia Bell; Smith, Barbara (eds): But Some of Us Are Brave. Black Women's Studies. Old Westbury, 13-22.

Individual evidence

  1. Lea Susemichel and Jens Kastner: Left identity politics. Particular interests versus social responsibility? , Deutschlandfunk , February 10, 2019.
  2. ^ Jürgen Martschukat : Hegemonic identity politics as a "decisive form of politics" in the USA. A story of the present . In: From Politics and Contemporary History 38–39 / 2018, Federal Agency for Civic Education .