The Double Dialectic between Experience and Politics

Abstract

There is a third reason why ABMS’ black male supporters proclaim their experience of oppression in ways that help and hinder a politics of resistance. Simply put, their experiential claims rest on harmful political assumptions and facilitate liberatory political demands. After noting feminist theorists who gesture toward but do not fully recognize this dialectic reality, this chapter highlights an important exception - historian Frances White’s realization that social groups often resist their oppression by embracing the discourse of their oppressors. This chapter ends by detailing what feminists can learn from White’s insight. The answer is that black males and other social groups cannot make ideal claims about their experience of oppression precisely because these claims shape and are shaped by all manner of politics.