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Weirdest conflict is going on in my head right now - I love womanism, and that four-part definition that was given by Alice Walker really inspired me. I felt the most in touch with feminism I've ever felt after reading that, but then it seems like I can't fully participate in that definition because I'm not African American. (That feels awkward to say since race is such a messy subject, but the reading is overwhelming for me at the moment.)

On the issue of the canon...

I feel that every facet of society needs their own canon. It is one of the most meaningful ways to define what a group of people stand for, how they think, and what is important to them. It's literally like saying "Here - this is the best we can produce, this is the height of our intelligence." In that way, it's amazingly important what Katie Cannon is doing in forming a canon of African American women's literature.

On the other hand, when it comes to learning and schooling, I feel there are definitely ideas that are taught across the board no matter where you went to high school or college. However, the texts that accompany those ideas vary infinitely. So to work our way through a canon, we'd have to pick a specific canon. But even then there are different ideas as to what the texts are that should be included in the canon. Then there are different levels of the canon within the canon (hypercanon, etc.) So really is it even worth deciding? Nothing will be satisfactory for everyone. There are texts that are typically recommended for a certain genre or discipline and those are what seem to embody the canon, but no one has a set list. Also, how boring would it be if there were one? Then everyone would just scramble to read all those books so that they could say they've read them and that'd be it. Nothing could change or grow about them, that canon would plateau.

khwheeler08 - I was wondering if you could clarify what you meant about men having to subjugate themselves in order for women to really become equal. I agree with you, but were you talking about this happening in a Utopian society or in the world today? And if it is in the world today how do you think that would manifest itself?