| Black feminism refers to a variety of feminisms which are identified by their opposition to the racism and sexism encountered by black women. It undertakes a critique of the racism and ethnocentrism of white-dominated systems and practices, including feminism. By the late 1980s critics began to challenge Black feminist emphasis on identity politics. And recently, a debate concerning the relation of Black feminism to postmodernism has emerged. There is a postmodern practice amongst black and post-colonial theorists; for example, the work of chicana feminist Gloria Anzaldua displays a postmodern awareness of the multiplicity or 'border-crossing' of identity. The transformative effect of Black feminism on feminism in the West and world-wide cannot be underestimated, and women's studies in the 1990s is in the process of being reconceptualised to take seriously difference in all its aspects. |