Meaning of use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house | Babel Free

Definitions

To use the tools and framework of an oppressive (e.g. racist or patriarchal) system to end that oppression.

Examples

“You'll never be able to use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house.”

“We are, in fact, trying to use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house by appealing to the same binary logic that undergirds SB 1250. As Butler points out, however, this is a strategy that is destined for trouble: the[…]”

“[…], and I'm not sure mother grizzly bears would agree that love implies pacifism, nor mother moose, nor many other mothers I've known. You can't use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house.”

“Can we, indeed, use the “master's tools” to dismantle the “master's house?” Says Audre Lorde (1984: 112), in Sister Outsider: ... the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to [win].”

“Ho Chi Minh, Mahatma Gandhi and Lee Kuan Yew, all of whom used the master's tools to dismantle the master's house, are cited as compelling examples of the empowerment gained through European education.”

“Initially, though, Tahneh and Diut appear to use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house. In order to prevent Diut's capture, Tahneh uses her influence to persuade her Rohkohn community and Diut, as well as his two Tehkohn[…]”

“In other words, this integrative discourse, most often in the form of narrative, allowed them to “use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house,” as described by poet and feminist activist Audre Lorde in her original 1984 essay].”

“On the other hand, the statement under consideration functions normatively, implying that one should never use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house. The Haitian Revolution, like all others, did not produce a perfect[…]”

CEFR level