“I am she who will be free”: June Jordan’s Transnational Feminist Poetics
In her poetry, the late African American writer June Jordan 1936- 2002 approaches cultural disputes, violent conflicts, as well as transnational issues of equality and inclusion from an all-encompassing, global angle. Her rather singular way of connecting feminism, female sexual identity politics, and transnational issues from wars to foreign policy facilitates an investigation of the role of poetry in the context of Transnational Feminisms at large. The transnational quality of her literary oeuvre is not only evident thematically but also in her style and her use of specific poetic forms that encourage cross-cultural dialogue. By “mapping connections forged by different people struggling against complex oppressions” Friedman 20 , Jordan becomes part of a multicultural feminist discourse that takes into account the context-dependency of oppressions, while promoting relational ways of thinking about identity. Through forging links and loyalties among diverse groups without silencing the complexities and historical specificities of different situations, her writing inspires a “polyvocal” Mann and Huffmann 87 feminism that moves beyond fixed categories of race, sex and nation and that works towards a more “relational” narration of conflicts and oppressions across the globe Friedman 40 .
___
- Erickson, Peter. “The Love Poetry of June Jordan.” Callaloo 26 (1986): 221–34. Print.
- Fishkin, Shelley Fisher. “Mapping Transnational American Studies.” Transnational American Studies. Ed. Udo J. Hebel. 31–74. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2012. Print.
- Friedman, Susan S. “Beyond White and Other: Relationality and Narratives of Race in Feminist Discourse.” Signs 21.1 (1995): 1–49. Print.
- Gates, Henry L., Jr., and Nellie Y. McKay, eds. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. New York: Norton, 1997. Print.
- Hebel, Udo J., ed. Transnational American Studies. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2012. Print.
- Jordan, June: “For the Sake of a People’s Poetry: Walt Whitman and the Rest of Us.” 1979. Lyrical Campaigns: Selected Poems. 69-79. London: Virago Press, 1980. Print.
- -----. “A New Politics of Sexuality.” The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Ed. Henry L. Gates, Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay. 2238–41. New York: Norton, 1997. Print.
- -----. Kissing God Goodbye: Poems, 1991-1997. New York: Anchor Books, 1997. Print.
- MacPhail, Scott. “June Jordan and New Black Intellectuals.” African American Review 33.1 (1999): 57–61. Print.
- Mann, Susan A., and Douglas J. Huffmann. “The Decentering of Second Wave Feminism and the Rise of the Third Wave.” Science & Society 69.1 (2005): 59–91. Print.
- Metres, Philip. “June Jordan’s War against War.” Peace Review 15.2 (2003): 171–77. Print.
- Mohanty, Chandra T. Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity. Durham and London: Duke UP., 2003. Print.
- Parmar, Pratibha. “Other Kinds of Dreams.” Feminist Review 31 (1989): 55–65. Print.
- Ramazani, Jahan. A Transnational Poetics. Chicago: U. of Chicago Press, 2009. Print.
- ISSN: 1300-6606
- Başlangıç: 1995
- Yayıncı: -
Sayıdaki Diğer Makaleler