1. Stephanie Landeros
2/23/15
Bifurcation of consciousness is defined by Dorothy Smith as being able to see life from
two standpoints, one being your own standpoint and the second being someone else from a
different race or culture.​“Practicing embodiment on the terrain of disembodiment of those
relations brought them into view.” ( Smith 570) ​ ​Meaning that no one person can have complete
objective knowledge and that no two people can have the same standpoint because they are
determined by our own experiences and our location within society.
In connection to an individuals stream of consciousness of their self awareness,
bifurcation creates a double consciousness because you are now aware of yourself and how the
people around you are interacting with you or each other. An example that shows this is the
difference in behavior in sales people toward people of color and their behavior around
someone who appears white. People of color are more likely to be followed around a store than
those who appear white.
In the midst of this people of color become aware of themselves and they become aware
of the behaviors expressed toward them so they will change the way they are walking, or the
manner in which they present themselves because they do not want to be followed or harassed.
The community that is most often affected by this is the African American community.
Smith uses this reality and presents this from a female standpoint, “As a political
concept, it coordinates struggle against the masculinist forms of oppressing women that those
forms themselves explicitly or implicitly universalize.” (Smith 567) explaining how the notion of
women’s standpoint helps us understand how to be inclusive and understand how male

2. influence is everywhere. This is indirect relation to the “matrix of domination” concept that
Patricia Collins talks about in her article ​Black Feminist Thought.
There are five features of feminist thought; the idea of Black feminist thought, Shared
experiences, those experiences as a collective, contribution of African American Intellectuals,
and significance of change.
The idea of Black feminist thought is to bring awareness to the reality that African
american women are a minority in their own category. Collins points out that “Black Feminist
Thought aims to empower African­American women within the context of social injustice by
intersecting oppressions.” (578) Explaining that Black feminist thought supports social regulation
and that there are many ways of being oppressed not just one.
Shared experiences are seen in both Smith’s article and in Collins article. Both describe
common challenges amongst Black women such as being stereotyped with not having
knowledge of anything, and being discriminated at their jobs or school. “U.S. Black Women
encounter societal practices that restrict [them] to inferior housing, neighborhoods, schools,
jobs, and public treatment.” (Collins 580) Further explaining discrimination toward Black women.
Shared experiences as a collective group show us that these women are an authority
when researching and documenting their experiences.“Black feminist thought must both be tied
to Black women’s lived experiences and aim to better those experiences in some fashion.”
(Collins 583)The women associated with this oppressed group that provide information for each
other through continued dialog.
The work of these women is important because it illustrates a tradition of joining
scholarship and activism.” (Collins 584) The contribution of African American women
intellectuals, has influenced this community to ask questions and to continue to seek education
by any means.

3. A significant change occurs when social conditions change, meaning that so will Black
feminist thought and practice. An example of this is transgression of queer acceptance, ten
years ago it was unacceptable, but now in most states it is legal for queer couples to marry. “
The changing social conditions that confront African American women stimulate the need for
new Black feminist analyses of the common differences that characterize U.S. Black
womanhood.” (Collins 585)
Bifurcation and Black feminist thought both highlight similar experiences that all women
experience. In an essay that is talked about in Collins article titled “My World” a sixth grader
named Sandra describes what it is like living in public housing in Boston. The description given
is one full of rape, gun violence, people who are jobless and desperate for income. In Smith’s
article she points out that she became aware of similar shared experiences when she was
interviewing women for her ethnography. Both authors observe how socioeconomic roles affect
a female individuals in similar ways.