This thesis interrogates the dimensions of organizing as a white woman on the left through an autoethnographic exploration of my own activist trajectory over the past six years. In moving from white, liberal feminist spaces I was engaged with in high school to prison abolitionist ones in college, I reflect on my journey compares in relation to that of other left-leaning white women. Furthermore, in reflecting upon my own radicalization, I examine the tensions white women encounter and experience in navigating (or refusing to navigate) their own racial privilege within social justice work, particularly in areas in which we are \"allies\". I utilize my own experiences as jumping-off points to analyze how white women on the left can begin to engage in a more meaningful praxis. Through the employment of an abolitionist perspective, I ponder how white women can conduct activism that specifically works to upend and dismantle all systems of oppression, but white supremacy in particular. I examine social movements that have been dominated by white women—second wave feminism, #MeToo, #NotAllMen and #YesAllWomen etc.—to rethink how these movements can engage more of an abolitionist and critical race focus. This thesis is constructed as a series of musings, presented chronologically in the way I wrote them, to illustrate my own thought process in engaging with these issues. It is purposefully unresolved and intrinsically incomplete, which reflects how the questions I am attempting to answer may simply lack the concrete finality that may be craved. Nevertheless, I invite my reader on my journey of self-exploration and discovery in hopes of constructing alternative imaginings of the unsustainable world we currently live in.
"},{"label":"Degree","value":["Bachelor of Arts with Departmental Honors"]},{"label":"Author-supplied Keywords","value":["Whiteness","Activism","Feminism"]},{"label":"Administrative Note","value":"Drupal Node ID: 23760