Patricia Hill Collins through her theory in Shifting the Center: Race, Class, and Feminist theorizing about Motherhood expresses the need for incorporating perspective into feminist theory. “Mothering occurs in specific historical contexts framed by interlocking structures of
Patricia Hill Collins through her theory in Shifting the Center: Race, Class, and Feminist theorizing about Motherhood expresses the need for incorporating perspective into feminist theory. “Mothering occurs in specific historical contexts framed by interlocking structures of race [and] class”, expresses Collins with her presenting of Spelman’s writing. I totally agree with this because in the context of my family structure it does not resemble the family archetype expressed in many of the theories we have already encountered in this class. Spelman also says that “despite the significance of race and class, feminist theorizing routinely minimizes their importance.
By not incorporating race and class into feminist theory “those who are working class or from racial ethnic groups [are seen] as less autonomous, and therefore as fitting objects for the elite male domination.” (Collins, 1994) To properly theorize on females and family structure because working with race and class helps define the experiences of woman in society.
In “Shifting the Center: Race, Class and Feminst Theorizing About Motherhood” Collins says, “Native American, African-American, Hispanic, and Asian-American women, motherhood cannot be analyzed in isolation from its context”(56) She highlights the fact that women in overlooked and arduous communities have taken motherhood and acted it out in a manner in which counter the assumptions of the dominant culture. For racial ethnic women in America, motherhood is much about survival as shown in her statistics. It is also a search for self-identity and a struggle for maternal empowerment. Collins does not wish to promote one group’s motherwork over another, instead she feels that we should move towards a median, which will in turn point towards feminist theorizing embracing differences as a vital part of being united.
In Motherwork and Physical Survival, Collins quotes “When we are not physically starving we have the luxury to realize psychic and emotional starvation,” from Moraga p.29. Understanding that racial ethnic children who are “physically starving”(61) have no assurance that they will physically survive, although commonly seen in society, still created a painful reality check within my thought process. The statistics behind Hispanic children and poverty, where Collins states that one third of those children who survive infancy live in poverty, made me realize the complexity behind mothering. Mo