Intersectionalism: Etymology/Term, Meanings and Concept
Etymology
- Origin: The term “intersectionality” was introduced into critical race theory by legal scholar and civil rights advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989. Her goal was to illustrate how legal frameworks addressing discrimination often failed to reflect the realities of Black women living at the nexus of racial and gender-based oppression.
- Conceptual Basis: The concept builds upon the metaphor of intersecting roadways. It acknowledges that individuals don’t experience discrimination along a single axis but rather navigate complex, interwoven systems of power and privilege.
Meanings
Intersectionality operates on multiple levels:
- Theoretical Framework: It’s a sociological lens for analyzing how social, political, and cultural identities (e.g., race, class, gender, sexuality, disability) interact at various structural levels, resulting in complex power dynamics that shape individual experiences with privilege and oppression.
- Empirical Reality: Intersectionality describes the lived experiences of individuals whose overlapping identities create unique forms of discrimination, advantage, or marginalization.
- Praxis: Intersectionality guides social justice advocacy. It necessitates movements that encompass a holistic approach, addressing interlocking systems of oppression as a means to achieve comprehensive social change and equity.
Key Concepts
- Interdependence of Social Systems: Systems of power (e.g. racism, sexism, classism, ableism) are not isolated. They mutually reinforce each other, creating stratified tiers of privilege and disadvantage.
- Primacy of Experience: Intersectionality emphasizes the importance of lived experience in understanding how discrimination manifests. It validates those positioned at the margins, whose realities may not align with dominant narratives.
- Structural Analysis: Intersectionality transcends individual-level identity exploration by examining how power structures, laws, policies, and cultural representations perpetuate inequity.
- Necessity for Inclusivity: Effective social justice initiatives must be intersectional in their approach. Attempts to tackle oppression along single axes (e.g., solely gender focused) risk neglecting the compounded experiences of multiply marginalized individuals.
Intersectionalism: Definition of a Theoretical Term
Intersectionalism is a theoretical framework that acknowledges the interconnected nature of social identities, such as race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability. It highlights how these intersecting identities create unique experiences of privilege and oppression, shaping individuals’ lives and social structures. Intersectionalism emphasizes the need for an inclusive approach to social justice that recognizes and addresses the complexities of intersecting identities.
Intersectionalism: Theorists, Works and Arguments
| Theorist | Pivotal Works | Central Arguments |
| Kimberlé Crenshaw | Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics (1989) <br> Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color (1991) | * Introduced the term ‘intersectionality’ to illuminate the unique experiences of Black women navigating overlapping systems of racial and gender-based discrimination. * Critiqued existing legal frameworks for their inability to adequately address the compounded forms of oppression faced by multiply marginalized individuals. |
| Patricia Hill Collins | Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment (1990) | * Developed the concept of the “matrix of domination,” illustrating the interconnected nature of oppression based on factors like race, class, gender, and sexuality. * Emphasized the importance of Black women’s lived experiences and knowledge production as essential tools for dismantling oppressive systems. |
| bell hooks | Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism (1981) <br> Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (1984) | * Examined the intersections of racism, sexism, and classism within the feminist movement, highlighting the exclusion and marginalization of Black women’s experiences. * Advocated for a more inclusive and intersectional understanding of feminist theory and praxis. |
| Angela Davis | Women, Race, & Class (1981) | * Analyzed the historical intersections of race, gender, and class in shaping the experiences of women in the United States, particularly Black women. * Contested the idea of a universal womanhood, emphasizing the diverse experiences shaped by social and economic structures. |
| Audre Lorde | Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (1984) | * Drew attention to the power dynamics operating within the feminist movement, emphasizing the need to recognize differences and build alliances across marginalized identities. * Stressed the importance of self-definition and the value of lived experience in resisting oppression. |
Intersectionalism: Major Characteristics
- Interconnected Identities: Intersectionalism recognizes that individuals possess multiple social identities that intersect and interact with one another.
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker: This novel explores the intersection of race, gender, and class in the lives of African American women, illustrating how these identities intersect to shape their experiences and challenges.
- Power Dynamics: It examines how systems of power and oppression operate differently depending on the intersection of various social identities.
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood: Atwood’s dystopian novel depicts a society where power dynamics based on gender, class, and religion intersect to oppress women, highlighting the complexities of power structures.
- Marginalization and Privilege: Intersectionalism highlights how certain intersecting identities can lead to both privilege and marginalization within society.
- The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas: This novel explores the intersection of race and class and how they influence the protagonist’s experiences of systemic racism and police violence, shedding light on the dynamics of privilege and marginalization.
- Inclusivity and Solidarity: It advocates for an inclusive approach to social justice that recognizes and addresses the complexities of intersecting identities.
- Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde: Lorde’s collection of essays emphasizes the importance of solidarity among marginalized groups and the need to recognize and respect each other’s intersecting identities in the fight against oppression.
These literary references provide insights into the major characteristics of intersectionalism by depicting how intersecting identities shape individuals’ experiences of power, privilege, and marginalization in society.
Intersectionalism: Relevance in Literary Theories
| Literary Theory | Key Concepts | How Intersectionality Transforms the Theory | Example |
| Feminist Literary Criticism | Examines gender roles, female representation, patriarchal systems | Beyond a singular focus on gender, intersectionality highlights how race, class, sexuality, etc., intersect to shape women’s experiences and literary portrayals. | Analyzing how black women in Toni Morrison’s fiction experience oppression differently than white women. |
| Postcolonial Criticism | Explores the impact of colonialism, power imbalances between colonizer and colonized | Acknowledges that oppression is not uniform. Intersectionality considers how gender, race, class, etc., within both colonizing and colonized societies shape experiences of power and marginalization. | Examining not just the oppression of a colonized nation, but how women or lower-castes within that nation are even further disadvantaged. |
| Queer Theory | Challenges heteronormativity, explores non-binary experiences of gender/sexuality. | Acknowledges the spectrum of identities within queer communities. Race, class, disability, etc., complicate and shape different experiences of queerness. | Investigating how black queer characters challenge both heteronormative and white-centric LGBTQ+ narratives. |
| Marxist Criticism | Focuses on class struggle, economic inequality, power structures. | Intersectionality shows how class oppression is intensified by other factors. Race, gender, etc., create unique vulnerabilities within the working class. | Analyzing how a working-class single mother’s experience differs from a working-class man. |
| Critical Race Theory | Examines how race and racism are embedded in social structures and institutions | Emphasizes that race intersects with other identities. Racism cannot be understood in isolation from class, gender, sexuality, etc. | Exploring how Asian women experience both racialized and gender-based discrimination in the workplace. |
Intersectionalism: Application in Critiques
1. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
- Focus: Black women in the American South in the early 20th century. Celie, the protagonist, endures multiple intersecting oppressions.
- Intersectional Critique:
- Gender and Race: Celie faces abuse by men because she’s a woman, and also faces specific dehumanization and violence due to being a Black woman.
- Class and Sexuality: The well-off Sofia is initially defiant, yet even her spirit is gradually broken. Celie’s queer relationship with Shug offers a space of agency rarely afforded to black women of the time.
- Disability: The novel can be explored through a disability lens as well, considering how characters with mental or physical disabilities are further marginalized within their community.
2. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
- Focus: Igbo society in Nigeria on the cusp of British colonization. Focus on Okonkwo, a tragically flawed hero.
- Intersectional Critique:
- Colonialism and Gender: While the novel critiques the impact of colonialism, it also highlights the deeply patriarchal structures within Igbo society that limit women’s autonomy.
- Masculinity and Status: Okonkwo’s hyper-masculine ideals are shaped by a societal hierarchy where lineage, wealth, and even the number of wives a man has, determine respect.
- Tradition vs. Change: Younger characters like Nwoye are caught between traditional values and the changes brought by colonialism, further complicated by their marginalized positions within their own community.
3. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
- Focus: The unnamed Black protagonist navigating a society in which his race renders him invisible despite his desire for recognition.
- Intersectional Critique:
- Race and Power: The novel primarily explores invisibility from a Black perspective. However, different social power structures shape the protagonist’s experience at different points in the book (e.g., in the South vs. North).
- Intersection with Class: While not a central focus, the protagonist encounters Black individuals of different social classes, adding nuance to his understanding of race within American society.
4. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- Focus: A dystopian future where women are categorized based on fertility and controlled by a theocratic regime.
- Intersectional Critique
- Gender and Reproductive Control: The focus is on extreme patriarchy, yet this control over women’s bodies is intensified along lines of race and class.
- Race and Resistance: Black women (Handmaids and Aunts) exist in this hierarchy, hinting at how racial oppression continues even within a society warped by gender-based dystopia.
- Sexuality and Complicity: While women are the primary victims, the novel highlights different ways that privilege intersects with complicity (think Aunt Lydia and Serena Joy).
Intersectionalism: Relevant Terms
| Term | Definition |
| Intersectionality | The interconnected nature of social categories (race, gender, class, sexuality, etc.) creating overlapping systems of discrimination or privilege. |
| Privilege | Unearned advantages received by a person based on their social identities. |
| Marginalization | The process of being excluded from mainstream society and power centers due to one’s identities. |
| Matrix of Domination | A concept outlining how interlocking power structures shape individual experiences within larger social structures. |
| Identity | How an individual or group defines themselves, shaped by social circumstances. |
| Social Construction | Categories like race and gender are created by societies, not natural or fixed. |
| Power | The ability to influence and control others, resources, and narratives. |
| Resistance | Acts of defiance against oppressive systems, overt or subtle, personal or collective. |
| Solidarity | Building alliances across marginalized identities in the pursuit of justice. |
| Praxis | Using theory to inform action and critical self-reflection towards social change. |
Intersectionalism: Suggested Readings
- Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. Aunt Lute Books, 2012.
- Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge, 2006.
- Crenshaw, Kimberlé. Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color. Stanford Law Review, vol. 43, no. 6, 1991, pp. 1241-1299.
- Davis, Angela Y. Women, Race & Class. Vintage Books, 1983.
- Hill Collins, Patricia. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Routledge, 2000.
- hooks, bell. Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism. South End Press, 2014.
- Lorde, Audre. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Crossing Press, 2007.
- Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity. Duke University Press, 2003.
- Smith, Barbara. The Truth That Never Hurts: Writings on Race, Gender, and Freedom. Rutgers University Press, 1998.
- West, Cornel. Race Matters. Vintage Books, 1994.