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14.2: Classroom Activity

  • Page ID
    269504

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    For this activity you will work in 3 groups. Each group will be assigned a question from below. Share your thoughts and then you will present your ideas to the class. As you work through these questions, think about how Lorde connects the personal to the political, and how reclaiming things like pleasure, voice, and identity can be acts of empowerment.

    A) Group Formation & Focus
    • Divide into 3 groups , each assigned one of the questions below.
    • Spend 20-25 minutes discussing your group’s topic.
    • Designate a spokesperson to share key insights with the class.

    B) Discussion Questions

    Group 1: “There is no such thing as a single‑issue struggle…”
    Explore how Lorde, in Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference, intertwines her identities—Black, queer, woman, mother, warrior—to craft her message.

    • Why is understanding intersectionality essential to comprehending her work and activism?
    • How does the synergy of her multiple identities shape her political analysis and call to collective action?

    Group 2: The Erotic as Empowerment

    In Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power, Lorde elevates the erotic far beyond sexual expression—as a deep source of creativity, insight, and defiance.

    • Why does she treat the reclaiming of erotic power as political resistance, particularly within marginalized sexu­al and gender identities?
    • How does this reconceptualization challenge patriarchal suppression and inspire revolutionary agency?

    Group 3: Linking Love, Sex, and Identity

    Lorde connects erotic self-awareness to political consciousness—how love, sex, and identity interact in her vision.

    • In her framework, how do race, sexuality, and gender converge to shape one’s deepest self?
    • How does embracing one’s erotic self act as resistance against broader systems of oppression?
      (Lorde sees this as a route to self-knowledge, and thus self-empowerment and community solidarity.)


    C) Presentation & Connection
    • Each group presents for a few minutes, summarizing:
      • Your collective insights
      • A close reading of one key quote from Lorde
      • A clear link to how the personal (erotic, identity) becomes political (resistance, empowerment)

    D) Whole Class Debrief

    Following group presentations, there is a whole class reflection discussion on:

    • Common themes across groups (intersectionality, erotic power, identity politics)
    • How reclaiming identity and pleasure becomes an act of resistance
    • How Lorde’s approach invites us to center emotional and spiritual intelligence in activism

    American Lorde | “Unless one lives and loves in the trenches… | Flickr


    This page titled 14.2: Classroom Activity is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by .

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