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Intersectionality will explicitly influence what we will do for the rest of the semester. This term was first highlighted by Kimberle Crenshaw. It is a methodology and political position that looks at the relationships between multiple social relations and subjectivities. In other words, how do gender, race, class, ability, sexuality, age, dis/ability interact together to achieve stunning levels of social inequality and/or privileges? Racism, sexism, homophobia, and religious intolerance do not act independently of one another. Instead, in intersectionality studies, we talk explicitly about multiple systems of oppression that intersect.
The First Reading:
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You have two readings for this day of class. The first reading gives a basic overview of intersectionality alongside examples of how it can be used. It is called “Intersectionality 101” by Olena Hankivsky. QUICKLY skim this piece for general understandings. Students in the past have especially found the diagrams on page 5 and page 8 helpful so please look at these. Click here for the reading. See the syllabus for your writing assignment.
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The Second Reading
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Your second reading is the source of it all. You will choose between two essays by Kimberlé Crenshaw: "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics" AND "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color" by Crenshaw. Crenshaw is not the first feminist to theorize intersectionality and do that work. However, she is the person who popularized the expression today. There are many critiques today that professors and others have simply borrowed Crenshaw's 1993 coinage and treated it like a fad, erasing the history and politics that created the notion. We won't fall prey to that kind of criticism here so we are going to the source and reading Crenshaw today! Read ONE of the Crenshaw essays, whichever you think you would like best. Click here for "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex." OR, Click here for "Mapping the Margins." Choose one of these two essays. See the syllabus for your writing assignment.
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Instead of reading one of two essays listed above, you might choose to watch a video where Crenshaw gives a talk on intersectionality as an alternative to reading. Choose any ONE of the videos below and do the writing assignment as indicated on your syllabus:
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The Third Option
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If you have taken courses in gender studies already or if you have done research on race and ethnicity, then you have read about intersectionality extensively by now. For those of you who have background in intersectionality studies, you should skip both reading assignments above and do an altogether different assignment. You will need to address the same questions for the writing assignment that is explained on the syllabus as everyone else. However, you will read something different. Instead, you will read any ONE article from the summer 2013 issue of Signs called "Intersectionality: Theorizing Power, Empowering Theory," guest edited by Sumi Cho, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, and Leslie McCall.
First read the editors' introduction editors’ introduction which provides an assessment of key questions, debates, and currents in the field of intersectionality studies, noting possibilities for its future and opportunities for collaboration. Then read any ONE of these articles:
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