From Patricia Williams to Patricia Collins: Race, Critique, and Feminism

DOI: 10.1590/2179-8966/2021/59755 Resumo Tracar caminho dialogico entre Patricia Hill Collins, como elemento do pensamento feminista negro para superar opressoes racistas, patriarcais, classistas e heterossexistas, com as reflexoes realizadas por Patricia J. Williams ao articular-se com os Critical Legal Studies (CLS), enfrentando realidades invisibilizadas com a Critical Race Theory (CRT) e o escopo deste artigo. Analisar todos esses “passos que vem de longe” nos faz compreender que o arcabouco teorico de Williams, detentora de trocas significativas na epistemologia feminista negra, foi rico o suficiente para permitir qualidade em seu olhar teorico e refletir sobre os CLS e a acuidade de suas contribuicoes para a CRT. Patricia Hill Collins foi escolhida pela contemporaneidade e similitudes de articulacoes teoricas com Williams. Sua visao do pensamento feminista negro como teoria social critica, em um processo consciente contra formas diversificadas de opressao, leva a compreender a influencia sobre Patricia Williams na critica sobre a troca das demandas por direitos por demandas por necessidades, ideia bem construida por Collins. O artigo tambem busca esclarecer como essas reflexoes influenciaram e podem permanecer fortalecendo a epistemologia feminista interseccional brasileira. Palavras-chave: Feminismo negro; Patricia J. Williams; Patricia Hill Collins; interseccionalidade; Critical Race Theory ; Critical Legal Studies . Abstract It is the aim of this paper to build a dialogical path between Patricia Hill Collins as member of the Black feminist thought, in order to overcome racist, patriarchal, classist and heterosexist oppressions, and Patricia J. Williams’ reflections when taking part of the Critical Legal Studies (CLS) and facing realities made invisible by the Critical Race Theory (CRT). To analyze all those “steps that came from afar” allows us to understand that Williams’ critical framework, which produced relevant exchanges in Black feminist epistemology, was rich enough so as to generate a qualified theoretical look and to examine the CLS and the precision of its contributions to CRT. Patricia Hill Collins was chosen for the contemporaneity and similarities of her theoretical articulations with Williams. Her vision of the Black feminist thought as social critical theory, in a conscious process against diversified oppression forms, makes us comprehend the influence upon Patricia Williams in her criticism on the replacement of claims for rights by claims for needs as an evidence of the complex and intense exchanges of Black feminist epistemology, in which Collins is a main character. This paper also seeks clarify how those thoughts might contribute to strenghten Brazilian Black feminist epistemology. Keywords: Black feminism; Patricia J. Williams; Patricia Hill Collins; intersectionality; Critical Race Theory; Critical Legal Studies.