Brief Reflections toward a Multiplicative Theory and Praxis of Being
![handle is hein.journals/berkwolj6 and id is 187 raw text is: Brief Reflections Toward a
Multiplicative Theory and
Praxis of Being
Adrien Katherine Wingt
we're anything brighter than even the sun
(we're everything greater/than books/might mean)
we're everyanything more than believe
(with a spin/leap/
alive we're alive)
we're wonderful one times one'
H. SINCE FEELING IS FIRST2
En an earlier stage of being, used to be a poet. But studying the law
killed my muse. At this point, it doesn't really matter because another
poet, e.e. cummings, has said it better anyway-one times one equals
one. The purpose of this reflection is to put forth the proposition that the
experiences of black3 women,4 whether in legal academia or elsewhere,
t Associate Professor of Law, University of Iowa; A.B. Princeton; M.A. UCLA; J.D. Stanford.
Many thanks to the following people for reading earlier drafts of this article: Patricia Wil-
hams, Greg Williams, Burns Weston, Angela Gilmore, Marc Linder, Lea VanderVelde,
Cheryl Harris, Martha Chamallas and Arthur Bonfield. Research assistance was provided by
Swarma Lata Setty, U of Iowa Law School class of 1991.
1 e.e. cummings, I x I [One Times One], poem LIV, in cummings, Complete Poems 1913-1962
at 594 (Hartcourt Brace, 1972).
2 cummings, is 5 [originally published 1926], Part Four, poem VII, in Complete Poems at 290
(cited in note 1): since feeling is first/ who pays any attention to the syntax of things/ will
never wholly kiss you;.
3 I describe myself as black, rather than Afro-American or African-American because, as an
international lawyer, I have found that black is a more inclusive term that characterizes other
people of color. For example, the Society of Black Lawyers of England and Wales includes
lawyers from Africa, the Caribbean, India, Pakistan, Guyana, etc.
4 This is probably true of other non-black women of color as well, but I leave it to them to tell
their own stories. See Mar Matsuda, When the First Quail Callk Multiple Consciousness as
Jurisprudential Method, 11 Women's Rts L Rptr 7 (1989), Carol Lee Sanchez, Sex, Class and
Race Intersections! Visions of Women of Color, in Beth Brant, Gathering of Spirit: Writing
and Art by North American Indian Women 163 (Sinister Wisdom Books, 1984). One of my
students, a very articulate, outgoing Asian-American woman told me of being mistaken by a
receptionist for a secretarial applicant at an all-white male law firm where she was interview-
ing for an associate attorney position. This happened despite the fact that she wore an expen-
sive suit and had a scheduled appointment. On another occasion, she mentioned being
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Brief Reflections toward a Multiplicative Theory and Praxis of Being
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