Animals can communicate quite well. And they do. And generally speaking, they are ignored
Alice WalkerRead
I just like to have words that describe things correctly. Now to me, 'black feminist' does not do that. I need a word that is organic, that really comes out of the culture, that really expresses the spirit that we see in black women. And it's just... womanish.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Alice Walker seeks a term that genuinely represents the essence of black women beyond conventional labels.
In this quote, Alice Walker expresses her desire for language that authentically captures the identity and experiences of black women. She argues that the term 'black feminist' fails to encompass the true spirit and culture of black women, advocating instead for the term 'womanish' which she believes more fully reflects their essence and lived reality.
Themes
IdentityLanguageCultureBlack WomenFeminism
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about intersectional feminism, this quote can highlight the importance of language in representing identity.
More from Alice Walker
All quotes →June Jordan, who died of cancer in 2002, was a brilliant, fierce, radical, and frequently furious poet. We were friends for thirty years. Not once in that time did she step back from what was transpiring politically and morally in the world. She spoke up, and led her students, whom she adored, to do the same.
Alice WalkerRead
On a spiritual level, it's as though with my sighted eye I see what's before me, and with my unsighted eye I see what's hidden. It's illuminated life more than darkened it.
Alice WalkerRead
I think 'The Color Purple' is so bursting with love, the need for connection, the showing of the need for connection around the globe.
Alice WalkerRead
How long will it take the citizens of the United States, one wonders, to recognize that the house their country bombed in Iraq is the same one they were living in until it was foreclosed?
Alice WalkerRead
One white man on the platform in South Carolina asked us where we were going--we had got off the train to get some fresh air and to dust the grit and dust out of our clothes. When we said Africa he looked offended and tickled too. Niggers going to Africa, he said to his wife. Now I have seen everything.
Alice WalkerRead
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