Sunday, February 19, 2006
(11:21 AM) | Adam Kotsko:
Womanist Question
I'm taking a course on Womanist and Feminist theology, and one of the points that womanists frequently bring up is that white women try to gloss over the real differences between black and white women's experience with a superficial appeal to "sisterhood." Since the two groups have historically been in such an unequal relationship, attempts at "sisterhood" seem to be just a way of assuaging the white women's guilty conscience.This dynamic has led me to wonder if there are any significant novels or films where the plot hinges on a close friendship between a black woman and a white woman. There are all kinds of artistic tributes to friendship between black men and white men, or at least some kind of partnership, but I'm really having trouble coming up with anything with female cross-race relationships. If there were no such cultural expressions, it seems to me that it would be significant.
I don't claim to be a self-contained cultural encyclopedia, though, so it's completely possible that I'm missing something obvious. Any suggestions?
