Audre Lorde’s <i>The Cancer Journals:</i> Lorde’s Mastectomy as an Identity

Ali Mohammad Alshhre

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ellc.20160102.11

| Peer-Reviewed

Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals: Lorde’s Mastectomy as an Identity

Ali Mohammad Alshhre

Published in English Language, Literature & Culture (Volume 1, Issue 2)

Received: 21 May 2016 Accepted: 27 June 2016 Published: 18 July 2016

Views: Downloads:

Download PDF

Share This Article

Twitter
Linked In
Facebook

Abstract

Mark Sherry, in “(Post) colonizing Disability,” defines disability differently and reconsiders it as an identity like race, religion, and gender: “it is an identity, with both social and personal dimensions, which may be associated with feelings of community, solidarity, and pride, or conversely, with feelings of difference, exclusion, and shame. It could be an identity that is based on identifying as someone who navigates the world in atypical ways,” [15] such as encountering some physical and attitudinal obstacles. This paper argues that feminist disability theory provides many ways to think about women’s disability and how their disability is considered as an identity and pride rather than something shameful or embarrassing in Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals. For example, After Lorde’s breast cancer surgery, she refuses having a breast prosthesis because she considers it as something against her identity and her body. She reflects, after mastectomy, how disability is in itself identity that is associated with her body. Moreover, her novel can be read to gain the experience that rather than accepting the breast prosthesis that makes people change their views in a society towards her and to avoid looking at her strangely, her disability as an identity and pride that makes her accept her temporary situation without having the breast prosthesis. Consequently, Lorde’s refusal for the breast prosthesis and to remain as she is signifies how important is it to keep her real identity in a society even if she faces negative attitudes or negative barriers.

Published in	English Language, Literature & Culture (Volume 1, Issue 2)
DOI	10.11648/j.ellc.20160102.11
Page(s)	5-12
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2016. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Colonialism, Medical Colonialism, Postcolonialism, Disability, Mastectomy, Prosthesis, Feminist Disability, Self-Power, Disability Pride

References

[1]	Clare, Eli. "Stolen Bodies, Reclaimed Bodies: Disability and Queerness.” Public Culture 13. 3 (2001): 359-365. Web. 30 Apr. 2016.
[2]	Darling, Rosalyn Benjamin. Disability and Identity: Negotiating Self in a Changing Society. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2013. Print. pp 58.
[3]	Davis, Lennard J. "Introduction: Disability, Normality, and Culture." The Disability Studies Reader. Ed. Lennard J. Davis. 4^th edition. New York and London: Routledge and Taylor and Francis Group, 2013. Print. pp 1.
[4]	Eisenberg, Myron G., Cynthia Griggins, Richards J. Duval, eds. Disabled People as Second- Class Citizens. Vol. 2. New York: Springer Publishing Company, 1982. Print. pp. 4.
[5]	Garland‐Thomson, Rosemarie. "Feminist Disability Studies." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 30. 2 (2005): 1557-1587. Web. 30 Apr. 2016.
[6]	Gergen, Kenneth J. “The Deficient Self: Colonization and Conflict.” Psychology’s Territories: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives from Different Disciplines (2007): 149-168. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
[7]	Gergen, Kenneth J. “The Self: Colonization in Psychology and Society.” Psychology’s Territories: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives from Different Disciplines (2007): 149-168. Web. 24 Apr. 2016.
[8]	Hammer, Karen. "A Scar is More than a Wound: Rethinking Community and Intimacy through Queer and Disability Theory." Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature 68. 2 (2014): 159-176. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.
[9]	Herndl, Diane Price. "Reconstructing the Posthuman Feminist Body: Twenty Years after Audre Lorde’s Cancer Journals." Disability Studies: Enabling the Humanities (2002): 144-55. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.
[10]	Jarman, Michelle. “Resisting ‘Good Imperialism’: Reading Disability as Radical Vulnerability.” Atenea 25. 1 (2005): 107- 116. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.
[11]	Linton, Simi. Claiming Disability: Knowledge and Identity. New York and London: New York University Press, 1998. Print. pp. 5- 12.
[12]	Lorde, Audre. The Cancer Journals. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1997. Print. pp 11- 149.
[13]	McCleery, Iona. “What is ‘Colonial’ about Medieval Colonial Medicine? Iberian Health in Global Context.” Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies 7. 2 (2015): 151-175. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.
[14]	Shakespeare, Tom. "The Social Model of Disability." The Disability Studies Reader. Ed. Lennard J. Davis. 4^th edition. New York and London: Routledge and Taylor and Francis Group, 2013. Print. pp. 215.
[15]	Sherry, Mark. "Postcolonising Disability." Wagadu 4 (2007): 10-22. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
[16]	Washington, Harriet A. Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present. New York: Doubleday, 2006. Print. pp. 147.
[17]	Wendell, Susan. The Rejected Body: Feminist Philosophical Reﬂections on Disability. New York: Routledge, 1996. Print. pp. 23-120.

Cite This Article

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Ali Mohammad Alshhre. (2016). Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals: Lorde’s Mastectomy as an Identity. English Language, Literature & Culture, 1(2), 5-12. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20160102.11

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Ali Mohammad Alshhre. Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals: Lorde’s Mastectomy as an Identity. Engl. Lang. Lit. Cult. 2016, 1(2), 5-12. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20160102.11

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Ali Mohammad Alshhre. Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals: Lorde’s Mastectomy as an Identity. Engl Lang Lit Cult. 2016;1(2):5-12. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20160102.11

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ellc.20160102.11,
  author = {Ali Mohammad Alshhre},
  title = {Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals: Lorde’s Mastectomy as an Identity},
  journal = {English Language, Literature & Culture},
  volume = {1},
  number = {2},
  pages = {5-12},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ellc.20160102.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20160102.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ellc.20160102.11},
  abstract = {Mark Sherry, in “(Post) colonizing Disability,” defines disability differently and reconsiders it as an identity like race, religion, and gender: “it is an identity, with both social and personal dimensions, which may be associated with feelings of community, solidarity, and pride, or conversely, with feelings of difference, exclusion, and shame. It could be an identity that is based on identifying as someone who navigates the world in atypical ways,” [15] such as encountering some physical and attitudinal obstacles. This paper argues that feminist disability theory provides many ways to think about women’s disability and how their disability is considered as an identity and pride rather than something shameful or embarrassing in Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals. For example, After Lorde’s breast cancer surgery, she refuses having a breast prosthesis because she considers it as something against her identity and her body. She reflects, after mastectomy, how disability is in itself identity that is associated with her body. Moreover, her novel can be read to gain the experience that rather than accepting the breast prosthesis that makes people change their views in a society towards her and to avoid looking at her strangely, her disability as an identity and pride that makes her accept her temporary situation without having the breast prosthesis. Consequently, Lorde’s refusal for the breast prosthesis and to remain as she is signifies how important is it to keep her real identity in a society even if she faces negative attitudes or negative barriers.},
 year = {2016}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals: Lorde’s Mastectomy as an Identity
AU  - Ali Mohammad Alshhre
Y1  - 2016/07/18
PY  - 2016
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20160102.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ellc.20160102.11
T2  - English Language, Literature & Culture
JF  - English Language, Literature & Culture
JO  - English Language, Literature & Culture
SP  - 5
EP  - 12
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-2413
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20160102.11
AB  - Mark Sherry, in “(Post) colonizing Disability,” defines disability differently and reconsiders it as an identity like race, religion, and gender: “it is an identity, with both social and personal dimensions, which may be associated with feelings of community, solidarity, and pride, or conversely, with feelings of difference, exclusion, and shame. It could be an identity that is based on identifying as someone who navigates the world in atypical ways,” [15] such as encountering some physical and attitudinal obstacles. This paper argues that feminist disability theory provides many ways to think about women’s disability and how their disability is considered as an identity and pride rather than something shameful or embarrassing in Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals. For example, After Lorde’s breast cancer surgery, she refuses having a breast prosthesis because she considers it as something against her identity and her body. She reflects, after mastectomy, how disability is in itself identity that is associated with her body. Moreover, her novel can be read to gain the experience that rather than accepting the breast prosthesis that makes people change their views in a society towards her and to avoid looking at her strangely, her disability as an identity and pride that makes her accept her temporary situation without having the breast prosthesis. Consequently, Lorde’s refusal for the breast prosthesis and to remain as she is signifies how important is it to keep her real identity in a society even if she faces negative attitudes or negative barriers.
VL  - 1
IS  - 2
ER  -

Copy | Download

Author Information

Ali Mohammad Alshhre

Department of English, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, King Khalid University, Mohayil City, Saudi Arabia

Download PDF

Sections

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Ali Mohammad Alshhre. (2016). Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals: Lorde’s Mastectomy as an Identity. English Language, Literature & Culture, 1(2), 5-12. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20160102.11

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Ali Mohammad Alshhre. Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals: Lorde’s Mastectomy as an Identity. Engl. Lang. Lit. Cult. 2016, 1(2), 5-12. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20160102.11

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Ali Mohammad Alshhre. Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals: Lorde’s Mastectomy as an Identity. Engl Lang Lit Cult. 2016;1(2):5-12. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20160102.11

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ellc.20160102.11,
  author = {Ali Mohammad Alshhre},
  title = {Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals: Lorde’s Mastectomy as an Identity},
  journal = {English Language, Literature & Culture},
  volume = {1},
  number = {2},
  pages = {5-12},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ellc.20160102.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20160102.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ellc.20160102.11},
  abstract = {Mark Sherry, in “(Post) colonizing Disability,” defines disability differently and reconsiders it as an identity like race, religion, and gender: “it is an identity, with both social and personal dimensions, which may be associated with feelings of community, solidarity, and pride, or conversely, with feelings of difference, exclusion, and shame. It could be an identity that is based on identifying as someone who navigates the world in atypical ways,” [15] such as encountering some physical and attitudinal obstacles. This paper argues that feminist disability theory provides many ways to think about women’s disability and how their disability is considered as an identity and pride rather than something shameful or embarrassing in Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals. For example, After Lorde’s breast cancer surgery, she refuses having a breast prosthesis because she considers it as something against her identity and her body. She reflects, after mastectomy, how disability is in itself identity that is associated with her body. Moreover, her novel can be read to gain the experience that rather than accepting the breast prosthesis that makes people change their views in a society towards her and to avoid looking at her strangely, her disability as an identity and pride that makes her accept her temporary situation without having the breast prosthesis. Consequently, Lorde’s refusal for the breast prosthesis and to remain as she is signifies how important is it to keep her real identity in a society even if she faces negative attitudes or negative barriers.},
 year = {2016}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals: Lorde’s Mastectomy as an Identity
AU  - Ali Mohammad Alshhre
Y1  - 2016/07/18
PY  - 2016
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20160102.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ellc.20160102.11
T2  - English Language, Literature & Culture
JF  - English Language, Literature & Culture
JO  - English Language, Literature & Culture
SP  - 5
EP  - 12
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-2413
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20160102.11
AB  - Mark Sherry, in “(Post) colonizing Disability,” defines disability differently and reconsiders it as an identity like race, religion, and gender: “it is an identity, with both social and personal dimensions, which may be associated with feelings of community, solidarity, and pride, or conversely, with feelings of difference, exclusion, and shame. It could be an identity that is based on identifying as someone who navigates the world in atypical ways,” [15] such as encountering some physical and attitudinal obstacles. This paper argues that feminist disability theory provides many ways to think about women’s disability and how their disability is considered as an identity and pride rather than something shameful or embarrassing in Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals. For example, After Lorde’s breast cancer surgery, she refuses having a breast prosthesis because she considers it as something against her identity and her body. She reflects, after mastectomy, how disability is in itself identity that is associated with her body. Moreover, her novel can be read to gain the experience that rather than accepting the breast prosthesis that makes people change their views in a society towards her and to avoid looking at her strangely, her disability as an identity and pride that makes her accept her temporary situation without having the breast prosthesis. Consequently, Lorde’s refusal for the breast prosthesis and to remain as she is signifies how important is it to keep her real identity in a society even if she faces negative attitudes or negative barriers.
VL  - 1
IS  - 2
ER  -

Copy | Download