Patricia Hill Collins Quotes on Politics
Patricia Hill Collins is an American sociologist and Black feminist philosopher, distinguished university professor at the University of Maryland and the first African-American woman to serve as president of the American Sociological Association. This page collects quotes attributed to Patricia Hill Collins on the topic of politics, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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Attributed to Patricia Hill Collins:
“The matrix of domination is not a sum of separate oppressions; it is their interlocking.”
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Attributed to Patricia Hill Collins:
“Black feminist thought is shaped by, and shapes, Black women's everyday lives.”
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Attributed to Patricia Hill Collins:
“Empowerment requires a deep grasp of the systems against which it pushes.”
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“Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment (2000) p. vii”
Oppressed groups are frequently placed in the situation of being listened to only if we frame our ideas in the language that is familiar to and comfortable for a dominant group. This requirement often changes the meaning of our ideas and works to elevate the ideas of dominant groups. -
“…In the United States, the dominant discourse is shaped by intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, and nation as systems of power. In my work, I have investigated how racism, sexism, class exploitation, and heterosexism operate to shape the lived experiences of different social groups. Black women’s experiences were the point of entry into these larger questions of power and knowledge, but African-American women’s experiences are not the endpoint…”
On how she approaches any research regarding social inequality in “The Representation of African-American Women: An Interview with Patricia Hill Collins” in Global Dialogue