GER 150 Podcast - Frauism - Ep 11 - Audre Lorde & the Afro-German

Audrey Lorde, a writer, poet, activist, and feminist, dedicated her life to feminism, activism, and black activism. She played a major role in the feminist movement, addressing issues of racism, homophobia, and more. Lorde's intersectional perspective as a black woman, lesbian, and mother allowed her to connect with a wide range of people and spread her message effectively. She believed in the importance of solidarity and working together to bring about change. Lorde's experience with breast cancer opened up discussions on the topic and challenged society's beauty standards. Her work continues to inspire and spark conversations today. Hello and welcome to episode 11 of Prowess. Today we'll be discussing the life and legacy of Audrey Lorde, a true symbol of feminism. Audrey Lorde, a writer, a poet, a womanist, a feminist, an activist, a teacher, and a mother. Badges, let's continue on for Audrey Lorde. Lorde was born in New York to two Caribbean immigrants. Due to the American political scene at the time, she experienced great racism within the United States. She received her education at the National University of Mexico and Columbia University. She dedicated her life to feminism, activism, and black activism. Some of her accomplishments include her participation in Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press, co-founding of Kitchen Table Women of Color Press, and she continued activism during her years in Berlin. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1977 and didn't seek treatment in the United States due to distrusting the American health care. She confided in her white friend who went with her to a doctor in Germany. This part in her life opened up the discussion for breast cancer and prosthesis. And maybe a quote she said, like, breasts do not define women. As for her movement, Lorde's role in the feminist movement is very apparent. She was a mobilizer, someone who advocated for their ideas and got other people to follow suit. She was a poet whose poems were meant to inspire and spark discussion, hopefully leading to positive change. Her lectures and poems addressed issues of Afro-German xenophobia, homophobia, and so much more. Lorde was a major catalyst for an Afro-German movement and the formation of Afro-German identities and an advocate of gender solidarity and anti-racism in Germany. Her position as a lesbian gave her a different perspective of society that she applied to her lectures and poems as well. She was happy to have conversations with anyone, black, white, male, female, or whatever, because the more people she could move, the greater change she could make. We kind of have talked about all of her different identities as a black woman, as a lesbian, as a mother, with her parents also being immigrants. How do you guys think her acknowledgment of intersectionality changed her role as a feminist? We've seen before, feminism is very class-based or race-based. What do you guys think about her approach to feminism and activism in general? I think because she has all these different perspectives that some of the other people we've talked about haven't. I mean, they definitely have, but she kind of has the whole list checked off. Minority, LGBTQ, mother, low class, all those kinds of things. I think that gives her a different perspective that helped her do more of what she wanted to do and connect to more people, I think. I agree with that because I think intersectionality is important in feminism because it kind of defines maybe the way that you would move within the movement or the social sphere. It applies to everything. You're more than just a woman, you're also, in her case, she is black, she is a lesbian, etc. Yeah, and also this quote that we have here says, We must respect our differences in order to work together. We share the same earth. I think that really talks to how nobody was excluded from these activist movements. She thought that all issues were everyone's issues. Racism affects white people. Feminist issues affect men as well. I definitely feel she had a greater female audience, minority audience, but she definitely didn't turn away those people who also wanted to join in and learn and listen, which I think we haven't really learned about too much yet from the other people we've discussed. I thought she was very effective, too, in getting the movement to get a good start. I think in a way she made the Afro-German movement from the ground up, because that's what was described in the documentary. It started with very few people and then they started spreading. She gave a lot of lectures to a lot of different people. I think she spread the message pretty wide in West Germany. I think even her poetry, she wrote her poetry in order to make people feel something. Honestly, that's the best kind of poetry, and I think that due to that and her ability to write like that, she was able to effectively also spread her movement in a way. I agree. I also think that a lot of more academic people took part in this, too, and they could probably also help further what she was pushing for in a way. Yeah. If they spread the message among younger people, then they're probably going to pick it up, too, and then it's just going to disperse more. Yeah. Yeah, she did say that. I think she said something like, I don't think I'll see the change I need in my lifetime, but hopefully what I do now sort of inspires people later on to make that change a reality. Yeah. I think something along those lines. I think her work did. It has. The social systems are obviously not perfect, and there's still a lot of change and progress to be made. However, I think that as far as legacies go, we talked about society's beauty standards and how her experience with breast cancer and the removal of her breasts, that was not spoken of, but would taboo be the right word? Maybe taboo, but it was... Not spoken of frequently. Yeah, because it affected her body shape. She lost her hair during chemotherapy. She didn't look what society expected a woman to look like, and we still see that now, society's beauty standards, but also I think... The conversation of breast cancer is very relevant today. Yeah. Not just in the month of October, but... Yeah. It is October, right? Is that right? I don't know. I feel bad not knowing. I feel bad not knowing. My grandma was very... Yeah, I had super unfortunate people to meet who also... October. Okay, good. I feel like it's a conversation people have year-round, and my mom will talk about she has to go get checks done, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. It's just such a common thing. It's really important. I think that also... We talked about how she distrusted the healthcare system, especially with the racism. Right, and during the time period, too. Yeah. I don't blame her. Yeah, and that's still something that also is very carried into modern times. Oh, yeah. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. So through this, more people were able to be involved. It could reach a man, or it could reach a white woman, or it could reach someone not in Germany or the United States. And eventually, one person does matter, but I think that in the idea that a revolution is a movement of mass people, unless there's a certain number of people, the work is irrelevant. Not irrelevant. It's still important. But irrelevant. But I think you can only... I think her writing had a racial component in it. But I think what she said in the documentary, that it first needs the white people to understand that they are part of the structure of racism. Then you can read her poetry. And then you can understand your poetry. Because what you do then is you can't identify with the experience, but you can identify that you are part of the system in the sense that you hold power. And that's what she was also then telling people. Use your power. Use your privilege of speaking for me when I have spaces that I'm not allowed to speak or I will never enter. So here I think it first needs the understanding what your place is in the entire structure to then be able to understand her poetry. So that ties back to bell hooks, extending the center outward. And even someone in the margin speaking to the center and their message being heard in the center has an effect on spreading the center? Is that what you're saying? Okay. Cool. I would agree with that. You can just read the poem and not take anything away from it if you don't understand what the main issue is or what's going on. But once you understand it, you can really read it and understand it. I think that's whenever it garners its support. Poetry still needs knowledge. You can't just read a poem and not knowing a certain background. The context. Again, it's the same by watching a film or reading a certain book. You need to have a pre-knowledge. And that's then how you engage and start interacting with your knowledge and the context you are then exposed to. Do you think that this was more centered around academic people? Or do you think that her stuff applies to anyone? I don't think so. I think, again, with the question that you asked earlier, or the statement that you gave earlier, she was invited by a woman that was an academic that used her role as a white academic to invite her over and give her the position of being a lecturer. And then teaching two people a little bit non-academic, because that was more accessible. But I think then, again, she connects the theory, the context, the practice. So having those groups where ordinary black people come and gather and have a conversation, I think that's also what was intended. I don't know how many of those people did not have an academic background. But also the question is, are we assuming that all black Afro-Germans did not have an academic background? But what's so bad on having that circulated in an academic setting, knowing when you saw how people were introduced, Maya Ayin, with her position, an activist, a writer, and then Catalina Montoya, she's still a historian today, activist, and so on. There is a purpose by giving them their positions too, the same as how Lourdes identifies herself, and how she chooses to be identified. Because putting the historian before the activist also says a lot in the context of your role as an Afro-German. You have the knowledge, you are an academic. Because if you put the activist first, it takes away the notion of the intellectual. And so putting the intellectual first also lets you engage, and lets shut people off by the biases that they come into. I thought it was interesting that she, or someone else was quoted by saying something like how they were surprised to realize that the Afro-German heritage, I don't know if that's the right word, went back like 400 years, but then a white woman said something like, I look back one generation and I won't turn away. It's really interesting, I think at least, because it goes farther back than what I thought, at least. Can I interrupt? Oh yeah, go ahead. It was that question. What was she actually saying? What does that mean when that woman said, my history just goes back a couple, like 50 years or so. And then you're ashamed. The regime that was going on in that time period and then all the war. So I understand where she's coming from. What does that prevent you from? What's the problem by drawing to this victim or this, not a victim, but this narrative of the German past that makes you constantly think about reconciliation? Oh, okay, yeah. I just lost it. What? It prevents you basically from interacting or facing racism. To take actually an active part in changing the system. When you're constantly referring back to, oh yeah, we Germans have done all this, but there are no, you don't take any action. You just basically, I don't know, in German we say this, you're bathing yourself in misery. Something like that, right? It doesn't really help. And I think that's what Lauren said. Instead of being proud in a sense of your German heritage and acknowledging the Nazi past, but at the same time also working towards this or reconciling with this, that's important. Because if you think about the concept of healing, if you don't love yourself, how are you supposed to love anyone else? I think that's also what she's getting at. If you don't love yourself as a German, how are you supposed to love anyone else around you? That's a famous quote. Like the woman. You're not wrong on that. You can't love yourself like how you're supposed to love someone else. I agree with that. Anything else to add? I don't have anything. I've just been kind of listening this whole time. Dr. Bar, you have great insight. Oh, well that was episode 11. Audre Lorde, tschüss.