Audre Lorde’s Anti-Imperial Consciousness
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6350666 |
|---|---|
| Authors | J Turner (0000-0002-3849-2667, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 243-271 |
| Publication date | 2021-04-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Political Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0090-5917 • E-ISSN: 1552-7476 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0090591720959858 |
| OpenAlex | W3091140545 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
Providing the first extended analysis of Audre Lorde’s critique of the 1983 U.S. invasion of Grenada, this essay argues that Lorde’s critique models a form of anti-imperial consciousness that is still morally and politically instructive. Anti-imperial consciousness entails examining oneself for complicities with empire’s ravages, on the one hand, and solidarities with empire’s subjects, on the other. Lorde aims to generate in her readers (1) a sense of horror at the ways they may be morally implicated in U.S. imperial injustice and (2) a more intense identification with empire’s non-U.S. victims. Lorde’s goal is to free her audience from what she calls the “mistaken mirage of patriotism” and propel them to anti-imperial action. Illuminating Lorde’s economic socialism and anti-imperialist internationalism—two subjects still overshadowed by her more famous work on anger, the erotic, and the master’s tools—the essay contributes to the ongoing elaboration of the Afro-modern tradition of political thought
Art · Consciousness · Empire · Epistemology · Injustice · Literature · Patriotism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Caribbean history, culture, and politics · Law · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |