Brainstorm #4 Emily Eckey

Chela Sandoval offers solutions to neoliberalism through coalition politics in both her article “Dissident Globalizations, Emancipatory Methods, Social-Erotics” in Queer Globalizations and the compelling animated video The Nuts and Bolts of Chicana Feminist Theory. This video provides the viewer a series of different Chicana Feminist Theoretical frameworks that facilitate critical thinking about power, dominant ideologies, and resistance. In particular, it discusses Chela Sandoval's Methodology of the Oppressed. Sandoval believes differential consciousness represents an oppositional ideology as practiced in U.S. third world feminism. I learned U.S. third world feminism focuses on “five points of resistance to U.S. social hierarchy: the “equal rights” mode; the “revolutionary” mode; the “supremacist” mode;  the “separatist” mode; and the “differential” mode. It was this last differential mode that enabled U.S. third world feminists during the 1970s to understand and utilize the previous four, not as overriding strategies, but as tactics for intervening in and transforming social relations” (Sandoval 25). These forms of resistance are further presented in the map of Chela Sandoval’s “Methodology of the Oppressed” which provides an excellent visual in order to better understand her article. With these methods of resistance, Sandoval provides the ability to create a language of revolution. Sandoval’s theory of differential consciousness is demonstrated through the example of The Woman Who Rock Oral History Archive and unconference. This unconference exhibits how women in rock should use Sandoval’s theory and bring "together scholars, archivists, musicians, media-makers, performers, artists, and activists to explore the role of women and popular music in the creation of cultural scenes and social justice movements" (Habell-Pallán 1). I learned Women Who Rock allows female musicians to not only support each other, but also to find themselves through the music making process. I was specifically moved by how the conference and film festival encourages individuals across all identities to unite together and be empowered as activists in their community.