Part I: What is Feminist Theory, What is Feminism?

Connecting Bunch, Lord and Walker:

In Not By Degrees: Feminist Theory and Education, Charlotte Bunch says: “Theory is not something set apart from our lives.” (13) And, it seems to me Audre Lord and Alice Walker—both poets—exemplify this statement by writing feminist pieces with beautiful, poetic voice. They connect two of their own self-defining characteristics--the fact that they are women and writers--and in doing so exmplify the power each woman can harness by just being herself.

For instance, in Womanist Walker writes: “[a womanist] Loves music. Loves dance. Loves the moon. Loves the spirit. Loves love and food and roundness. Loves struggle. Loves the folk. Loves herself. Regardless.” (11) Of the four definitions of “womanist” she gives, this is the most abstract and I like it best—it sounds like slam poetry; even though the words don’t make total sense, together they infuse one another with complete meaning and paint a full, soft picture of "womanist."

Furthermore, Audre Lord writes in Poetry Is Not a Luxury: “For women…poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence.” (15) In saying this, Lord attaches value to the poetic expression of feminist issues, and provides the theoretical context for Walker (a decade later) to articulate in an artistic way what "womanist" is.

Feminist Theory is not set apart from either Lorde or Walker's life, as it's not set apart from any woman's life. One of the many answers to the title of this post is: theory is the textual, factual manifestion of experience and feminism is realizing that the personal is political and theory and practice go hand in hand.

I understand womanist is a term that differs from feminist and is claimed by black women in particular. But...I still feel particularly connected to the meaning of womanist and all it infers...Aren't I a womanist, too?