Politics of Location Essay

Essay written for WGS 200 (Intro into Women and Genders Studies) written in May, 2024. I wouldn't say it's my strongest writing, it was my first essay written since graduating college and I just couldn't dedicate the same time, energy and effort as I used to for writing college essays. But nonetheless, I wrote it, and it's here.

Politics of Location Essay

“You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? (Laughs.) You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you” (Harris). Like Harris, Rich explains that one cannot exclude context, or politics of location, from the individual. Rich describes the politics of location in a couple of different ways, and how it deeply affects the feminist movement, despite how white feminism has historically tried to separate womanhood from other experiences. She starts with the location of “the body”, and delves into how personal this is. Then, she talks about the context outside the individual body-- society.

I am white, Filipino, and Puerto Rican, and female. These identities cannot be separated or parsed out--they are all parts of the whole. Without one part, you do not have a whole that is me. Though I am Filipino and Peutro Rican, since I am half white, my skin tone is also white, so I am often perceived as Korean, Chinese, or Japanese. Not only does the context of my body shape my perspective, but so does the perception of my body, as it shapes how other people treat me. To further explain this-- my brother, who shares the same genetics as I do, has dark brown skin. Though we are full siblings, the difference in our skin color makes a huge difference when it comes to interpersonal experiences. He receives discrimination often related to dark skin hispanic people, whereas I receive discrimination often related to light skin asian people, even though I am not ethnically a light skin asian person, thus vastly shaping different experiences and relationships to our races even though we are the same races.

I cannot be separated from the context of my family history. I am a part of it and it is a part of me. My grandma grew up in the Philippines and immigrated to the United States at a young age. Events like these, or even small events, have ripples throughout lifetimes. My grandma’s immigration experience shaped her, shaped my mother, and shaped me. For example, my grandparents shedded off layers of their cultures to assimilate, to survive, when they moved to America. This erasure is an effect of colonialism. I have lost a lot of myself due to this. This is an experience that a white feminist would not understand if they keep standing in a spot where they center themselves and the white experience. 

I grew up in a predominantly Black community. This location outside of my body shaped a lot of my perspectives. I experienced the negative effects of gerrymandering in the school system. I was connected to Black community when Treyvon Martin was killed. I think that this context made me feel more connected to larger conversations about race outside of my own. I also connect to the struggles of the Black community, though I understand they are different struggles. It has helped me understand the famous Audre Lorde quote “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own. And I am not free as long as one person of Color remains chained. Nor is anyone of you”.

Rich traveled to other countries, and explained “I could feel what it means, dissident or not, to be part of that raised boot of power, the cold shadow we cast everywhere to the south.” (220). We are part of a government that we are participating in, that affects other countries. And standing so close to our government, we can even blind to this-- Rich had to move her physical location from the United States to another country in order to see this. Additionally, our government and society determines what information is handed to and taught to us. We are handed information that may serve our government, and other information is withheld. This is seen when Rich goes on to tell of historical and political events organized by women in the past, and how she would not have known this information if she did not seek it out. If we stick with what we are handed in terms of public education in America, we are often informed from white man's perspective. 

I approach this course with an open mind and heart. Rich explains that “the movement for change is a changing movement, changing itself, demasculinizing itself, de-Westernizing itself, becoming a critical mass that is saying in so many different voices, languages, gestures, actions: It must change; we ourselves can change it. We who are not the same. We who are many and do not want to be the same” (225). I’ve been on a journey to understand perspectives outside of whiteness, outside of a patriarchal understanding, for quite a while, and I know that others are on different parts of this journey, or might not even be interested in this journey, but I hope to learn and understand from everyone, feminist or not, in order to help push the needle towards a more equitable world.  This means we must include each other, must understand each other, we must have compassion and room for our different perspectives and experiences. 

My understanding of myself, how people perceive me and how this affects me, has largely fueled my love for feminism. It’s healing to learn about experiences outside whiteness. It’s like uncovering a dark past that patriarchy and white supremacy has tried to bury.

Works Cited

Harris, Kamala. “Remarks by Vice President Harris at Swearing-In Ceremony of Commissioners for the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics.” The White House, 10 May 2024, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/05/10/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-at-swearing-in-ceremony-of-commissioners-for-the-white-house-initiative-on-advancing-educational-equity-excellence-and-economic-opportunity-for-hispanics/.

Lorde, Audre. The Use of Anger: Women Responding to Racism.

Rich, Adrienne. Notes toward Politics of Location (1984).