Culture
January 1, 1
Rebecca Walker
Like other progressive projects, including the civil rights and labor movements, the body of knowledge and practice commonly identified as feminism is in crisis. Beleaguered by conservatives crying “feminazi” and betrayed by beneficiaries who, depending on their location on the spectrum of identity, declare feminism white, imperialist, middle-class, separatist, unsexy, or just plain irrelevant, feminists have, by necessity, grown accustomed to conflict. The heat of this contestation has played a significant role in forging intersection theory, postcolonial criticism, and Third Wave activism. But it has also spawned “left melancholia,” an enervating malaise that robs workers for cultural justice of their