Racializens Roundup: Feminism FOR REAL Launches And MMW Goes Bananas

By Arturo R. García

Let’s start the week off by giving props to some of The R’s best friends who made some waves this weekend.

First off, Friday saw the release of Feminism FOR REAL: Deconstructing The Academic Industrial Complex of Feminism. Edited by the globetrotting Jessica Yee, this collection of essays and poetry tackles the collision between feminist theory and feminist reality. Among the contributors is our own Andrea Plaid, who talked about the project a bit on her tumblr:

Academia provides a “home”—or “safe space,” to use the parlance—for feminists. So, feminism fortified its privilege by, in essence, wedding The Academy—and really, its class privileges of having the money to go to college to “study” these ideas. Yeah, it’s a Mobius Strip of privilege, but it’s still privilege.

So, as much as feminists give lip service to “experience as a form of theoretical basis,” it seems the only time “experience” is respected is when the person has years of it (and if the person had practically founded a feminist organization).  It’s as if feminism has bought into that whole “one bachelor’s degree=5-10 years of ‘professional’ experience” that guides hiring practices. Other than that, folks’ feminism—especially being able to write and speak on it—gets dismissed real quick.

The book is coming off a successful launch event in Toronto and is now available for purchase at the link above.

Meanwhile, in California, Fatemeh Fakhraie, whose work you’ve read here and at Muslimah Media Watch, was part of a panel discussion, along with Jehanzeb Dar, who’s contributed here in the past, at the Bananas 2 conference for Asian/Pacific Islander American bloggers this past Saturday.  The first half of the panel is available under the cut.

And besides them, of course, you know that Latoya’s got big plans of her own this spring. Congrats, everyone!