“For women, the need and desire to nurture each other is not pathological but redemptive, and it is within that knowledge that our real power I rediscovered. It is this real connection which is so feared by a patriarchal world. Only within a patriarchal structure is maternity the only social power open to women.”
– Audre Lorde
During this meeting, Gloria Wekker will give a lecture inspired by the work of Audre Lorde, on the importance of safe spaces for black queer and trans women. Audre Lorde was a Caribbean-American writer, poet, feminist and activist who identified herself as “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet”. Her work and activism have had a great influence on feminist thinking as well as on the literary world.
To this day, Lorde has been an inspiration to many, and her oeuvre remains relevant and urgent. Through her essays, poems and short stories, we connect the themes of intersectionality and solidarity with sisterhood in an intimate setting. In 1984, Gloria Wekker co-founded the action group “Sister Outsider”, with the aim to make black women’s culture and that of black lesbian women in particular, visible. The “Sister Outsider” group was named after the eponymous collection of essays by Audre Lorde.
Gloria Wekker introduced the concept of intersectionality in the Netherlands in the collection Caleidoscopische Visies; de zwarte, migranten en vluchtelingen vrouwenbeweging in Nederland (with Botman, M. and N., Jouwe), 2001. She then wrote The Politics of Passion; Women’s sexual Culture in the Afro-Surinamese Diaspora (Columbia University Press, 2006), for which she received the Ruth Benedict Prize from the American Anthropological Association in 2007.
During this meet and greet session, a small group will have the opportunity to talk to Gloria Wekker as there will be space to ask questions and share personal stories.