Solidarity Across Difference: Rethinking Transformational Critique from Black Feminist and Postcolonial Perspectives

The notion of solidarity is often discussed in relation to (queer-)feminist and anti-racist struggles in socio-political settings. Global movements such as #MeToo and Black Lives Matter vividly show how powerful and effective practices of solidarity can be in these contexts. In this chapter, I shift focus slightly and discuss the potential of solidarity in a different – yet arguably related – setting, namely within the context of critical scholarship. More specifically, I suggest the practice of solidarity across difference as a form of transformational critique. The notion of solidarity across difference is based within Black feminist and postcolonial conceptions of solidarity as a continuous collective struggle for mutual commitments grounded within multiple viewpoints and knowledges, thus, a practice of enabling shared action while maintaining internal particularities (hooks 2000, Mohanty 2003). I argue that it addresses shortcomings in current forms of critique that claim to foster transformation and reflexivity, particularly affirmative and immanent critique.