Race and discomposure in oral histories with white feminist activists

Thomlinson, N. (2014) Race and discomposure in oral histories with white feminist activists. Oral History, 42 (1). pp. 84-94. ISSN 0143-0955

Abstract/Summary

This article arises from my research on ethnicity and race in the English women's movement post-1968. Oral history interviews with both white and ethnic minority feminists from this period revealed the complexity of these debates and the emotions they generated. I begin this article with a discussion of the dynamics that race brought to these interviews and of the concepts of composure, discomposure and politicisation. I then examine the oral tes timony of four white feminist activists. Exploring these oral histories offers, I suggest, useful insight as to how discomposure can work to effect politicisation; and conversely, how com posure can be a symptom of a lack of political engagement.