Brokenheartedness and accountability. Issue 3 (3rd July 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Russo, Ann
• Is Part Of: Journal of lesbian studies. Volume 21:Issue 3(2017)
• Page Start: 289
• Page End: 305
• Publication Date: 2017-07-03
• Subjects: Accountability -- whiteness -- ally -- privilege -- power lines; Lesbianism -- Periodicals; Gay and lesbian studies -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 306.7663
• DOI: 10.1080/10894160.2016.1156923
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1089-4160

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In this article, I reflect on relationship and movement building across power lines that I have experienced or witnessed in and outside of academia. I argue that the "anesthetic aesthetic" of whiteness, as illuminated by Mab Segrest, compels those like myself who are trained to be white to distance ourselves from the pain and suffering of others (as well as our own) in order to accept and assimilate into the hegemonic normative systems of power. I offer stories from my experience of feminist and queer organizing that demonstrate how this distancing looks and feels, and places of where it might be transformed. Then, I turn to healing justice as a praxis that creates communal spaces for naming, recognizing, and healing from violence, spaces to share our brokenheartedness, and to serve as a way of breaking up the gravitational pulls of white supremacist patriarchy.