chapter one - Teknokrat Repository

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Universitas Teknokrat Indonesia

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

In interpreting feminism, feminists differ in opinion on this matter; this is because feminism does not take a conceptual and theoretical basis from the formulation of a single theory. Therefore, the definition of feminism always changes according to the socio-cultural reality behind it, from the level of consciousness, perception, and actions taken by feminists themselves. The term feminism is evaluated etymologically from the Latin femmina which means woman. Feminism is a struggle that aims to end sexist oppression. According to Hook, (1984:26),

“Feminism does not take sides and benefits from certain groups of women, certain races or classes of women only, nor does it aims to prioritize women over men. In its practice, feminism has the power to change in meaningful ways throughout our lives”. Theoretically, feminism has several branches to specify the right area of feminism’s movement based on the socio-cultural identity of society, and one of them is black feminism.

Black feminism is one of the feminist branches, black feminism's roots are radical (Rosem.Brewer, 2016). Rosem believed that black feminism's purpose in its practice and theory is basically in the liberation of all people. He also pointed out that black feminism in its contemporary and historical face(s) was born in struggle.

In its development, the feminist movement not only fought for the rights of white women, but also black or colored women. Moreover, the term black feminism is the wish for a compatible and progressive change for social justice within the

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historical and ongoing struggles against the race and gender oppression experienced by black women at home, work, in their communities, and moreover in the whole culture as a dominant community. Black feminism focuses on the complexity of the demand by black women on social, economic, and political justice, and being understood. At first, black feminism stated that a significant change in a society that was oppressing both men and women could be done by building a coalition between women of color and progressive movements. Along with the history of the feminism movement in the United States, there existed the movement of black women. The position of black women in the society was on the last rank of the social class, on the fourth rank right after Afro-American men during the slavery time. The black women were being discriminated against in every aspect of life.

Not only struggling for feminism, but black women also struggled for racism (Myrdal, 1944). During the time of slavery, black feminists such as Barbara Smith, Audre Lorde, and Gloria I. Joseph, created theories that meet the needs of black women by helping these black women mobilized issues they considered to have a direct impact on the overall quality of life. The theory of black feminism sees the limits of womanhood with white feminism to fully deal with the intense contradictions in gender, race, and class in the context of a racist society.

Black feminism theories must understand imperialism and deal with it. To see the important issue of how the society organized so they can understand themselves to the totality of their oppression. They cannot prioritize one aspect of oppression by putting aside other aspects. Only one class, race, gender, and sexuality synthesis can take forward. Black women and other colored women accuse the insensitivity of white feminism by assuming that white experience can speak on behalf of all

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women, for example, by using the experience of black women as a metaphor for white women, without regard to the racism that unconsciously appears in their language and assumptions. Black women need the struggle to fight for their rights, but some people still assume that black women are someone from a lower social class than white women who tend or are mirrored as people from high social class or even from the aristocratic class. The influence of the media represents the representation of black women working more in the service sector in the economic dimension. While in the political dimension, black women are alienated from decision making and in ideological dimensions, where black women are stereotyped as "faithful domestic servants, prostitutes, and others". In this matter, the race is very influential on the occurrence of oppression.

According to (Sivanandan, 1989 ) race is a central force in a discourse of labor, in which there is not only a relationship between class and gender, but there is also the role of race in an economic-political discourse. For example, the black race in America in the past was a race of 'workers', so that until now the stereotype that appears in the minds of the people is that the black race is a' laborers' race. The universal application of "black" as a concept, is seen as having flaws in cultural specificity and welfare in the way it is used. In Britain, the use of the word "black"

has a political dimension and is used to refer to groups who have experienced colonialism and racism. In this case, gender is closely linked with race and class in black feminist thought. However, special attention to gender informs black feminist thought. In other words, gender can not be separated from feminism. Other things that cannot be separated from black feminism are issues related to racism, discrimination, and slavery.

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The concept of racism has an impact on the formation of stereotypes in the society of a particular race, such as the black race is a figure of workers, besides, it is often also described as an evil person. Another thing that concerns blacks is sexual issues.

For example in the case of pornography, blacks accuse hypocritical skin because if the act of pornography is carried out on black women then this is not taken seriously, but on the contrary, if the act of pornography is carried out on white people is considered as oppression. Furthermore, black feminists accuse racism in pornography. Black people accuse both white society and black men of racism in dealing with their objects. Therefore, when black men were harassed by black men there was no action from the government, instead, they looked down on black women. So they teased black women less than white people. The issue of racism and discrimination is often raised in literary works as a medium for writers to convey their messages. As a result of many depictions of racism issues in literary works, especially poetry, much of the African-American racial socialization empirical literature has focused more on the depictions of racism issue in poetry to analyze the way racial socialization affects beliefs and racial identity (Barr, 2010).

Poetry is a form of literary work from the results of the poet's expressions and feelings with language that is bound by rhythm, dimensions, rhymes, the arrangement of lyrics and stanzas, and full of meaning. Thus, understanding and studying the meaning plays an important role in poetry to take the messages (GulÖ, Rido, & Wahyudin , 2017). Poetry is any kind of verbal or written language that is structured rhythmically and is meant to tell a story or express any kind of emotion, idea, or state of being. Poetry is used to achieve this artistic expression in several ways (Ollila & Jantas, 2006). Poetry also expresses the thoughts and feelings of the

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poet imaginatively and is arranged in concentrating the power of language with its physical structure and inner structure. Poetry prioritizes the sound, form, and also the meaning conveyed where the meaning is a good proof of poetry if there is a deep meaning by compressing all elements of language. The poet uses poetry as a part of the process of using words and language to arouse his feelings and thoughts.

Therefore, poetry, can only have meaning and become an aesthetic object if it has been given meaning by the reading community. To give meaning, the literary works must be bound to the text of literary works as a sign system that has its own conventions based on the nature of literary works. The poet created poetry as a form of expressing oneself through metaphors, symbols, and ambiguity.

Lucille Clifton is an Afro-American writer who is known for her work that is always related to the African-American heritage and also often rise feminist issues in her works. Clifton served as Poet and known as the Maryland Award Winners from 1979 to 1985 and Clifton also won the prestigious Ruth Lilly Poetry prize in 2007.

The style of her short work, and freestyle lyrics with minimum punctuation that Clifton often uses, is very attached to Clifton. The works produced by Clifton are inspired by the lifestyle experiences, challenges, and problems facing by her family as well as the African American challenges problem. Lucille Clifton wrote poems about identity and the issue of racism and some of her poems talk about segregation and discrimination toward African-Americans in the United States. Lucille Clifton is one of the woman writers who use the feminist approach in her work. In her poems, Clifton expresses what the women were facing during racial segregation, discrimination, and male domination. It is also related to one of her works, in the poem entitled homage to my hips, Lucille Clifton puts a lot of issues related to the

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inequality faced by women, especially black women, specifically, she tried to raise the black feminist ideas through the lyrics she wrote for black women equality and black women's right by describing her part bodies as a symbol.

Besides, the cases of oppression toward black people are continuing nowadays, there are still many oppressions, discriminations, and inequality treatments against black people. According to Dean, (2020) the latest cases of oppression toward black people that resulted in death were the case of Breonna Taylor a 26-year-old African- American woman, that was fatally shot in her Louisville, Kentucky, apartment on March 13, 2020, another case was the death of Goerge Perry Floyd Jr, a 46-year- old African-American man killed during an arrest after a store clerk alleged he had passed a counterfeit $20 bill in Minneapolis. Thus, by looking at those facts, this study essentially matters to do in supporting the Black Lives Matter movement for equality and raising awareness for all parties to treat and being well treated. Black feminism comes out as an appropriate field to fight inequality.

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1.2 Research Question

Based on the background of the study which has been written by the researcher above, the researcher formulates the research question of the problem which is how is the black feminism ideas portrayed in the poem entitled homage to my hips by Lucille Clifton?

1.3 Research Objective

The research objectives of this study are to answer the research question of this study, which aims to show the black feminist ideas as portrayed in the poem in poem entitled homage to my hips by Lucille Clifton.

1.4 Use of Study

The use of the study of this study will be beneficial for both society and future researchers. Thus, the use of the study of this research is divided into two, as stated below.

1.4.1 Practical Use

This study can be raising the awareness of society about the existence of feminist ideas in society. It can give society deeper insight and knowledge about the definition of feminism, especially for black feminism with in-depth understanding.

The information is written in this study can be used for future researchers to analyze the poems and/or the same topic.

1.4.2 Theoretical Use

The theory used in this study can be used by other future researchers to conduct a deeper analysis of feminist ideas especially black feminism. The theory also can be

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used for future researchers to analyze the black feminism study in other literary works.

1.5 Scope of the Study

This study will focus on the ideas of black feminism that exist both in literary work and in society. The scope of this study will be limited in a poem entitled homage to my hips by Lucille Clifton, and how this poem can capture the condition of the society during the time when this poem was made.