Brainstorm 4: Chloe Rabinowitz

Women, especially women of color, have been oppressed and marginalized for generations upon generations. In “Dissident Globalizations”, Chela Sandoval calls upon people who have been discriminated upon and cast out of mainstream society to form a coalition to decolonize modern-day society. Anybody who has been “colonized” or has had their culture and/or identity stripped by what society deems acceptable has been a victim of colonial forms of thought determining human history. Sandoval’s call to action for anybody who fits this description to unite and work together, against the colonial forms of thought, speaks to the resilience of oppressed communities. These communities have common goals in the sense that they all have diverse histories and forms of thought to contribute to society which have been purposefully ignored and forgotten from the culture of today’s society. The key to achieving a more inclusive society for any one of these groups is to find commonalities between themselves through which they can unite and be a stronger force against the current systems in place. This is the idea that is embodied in Women Who Rock Archive as it speaks to how crucial it is for women, people of color, queer communities, etc to band together while sharing different aspects of their cultural expression with the world. In the video “Oral History: Women Who Rock”, one of the women discusses the importance of “The individualization of a person by interacting with a community” (6:22). Through building a strong community and being able to have a space to share and express oneself within the community, individuals can begin to define their roles through society, tying into the idea of redefining and decolonizing society. Overall, I believe that Sandoval’s call to action for anyone who has been colonized and left out of society to create a coalition to rise against the current systems in place is a method of resilience which is seen throughout the unifying transcultural interactions of different communities in the Women Who Rock archive.