“Hidden Spaces, Hidden Narratives: Intersectionality Studies in Berlin”: A Case Study in Critical Feminist Alliance Work

“The best cooks in my life never went to culinary school. Every Black person I know that taught me how to cook paid careful attention to the best cooks they knew. They watched; they learned; they practiced. The best hairstylists in my life only went to cosmetology school, if they even went, to earn the credentials they needed to do hair in beauty salons. Because almost every Black woman who ever braided my hair learned how to braid by paying careful attention to the best braiders they knew. They watched; they learned; they practiced. I designed my study abroad course in a way that honors that tradition, a tradition that demands you ‘sit at the feet’ of the wiser—those who know more than you, those who are experts in the things you want to do—and learn so that you can one day teach.”
—Dr. Heidi R. Lewis in “‘Hidden Spaces, Hidden Narratives: Intersectionality Studies in Berlin’: A Case Study in Critical Feminist Alliance Work” from Unteilbar Bündnisse gegen Rassismus