Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T11:59:42.954Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

INTERSECTIONALITY UNDONE

Saving Intersectionality from Feminist Intersectionality Studies1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2014

Sirma Bilge
Sirma Bilge*
Affiliation:
Département de sociologie, Université de Montréal
*
Sirma Bilge, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128, Succursale Centre-ville, H3C 3J7 Montreal (Qc)Canada. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article identifies a set of power relations within contemporary feminist academic debates on intersectionality that work to “depoliticizing intersectionality,” neutralizing the critical potential of intersectionality for social justice-oriented change. At a time when intersectionality has received unprecedented international acclaim within feminist academic circles, a specifically disciplinary academic feminism in tune with the neoliberal knowledge economy engages in argumentative practices that reframe and undermine it. This article analyzes several specific trends in debate that neutralize the political potential of intersectionality, such as confining intersectionality to an academic exercise of metatheoretical contemplation, as well as “whitening intersectionality” through claims that intersectionality is “the brainchild of feminism” and requires a reformulated “broader genealogy of intersectionality.”

Keywords

IntersectionalityAcademic FeminismDisciplinarityNeoliberalismDiversityPostraceEurope (Germany, France)
Type
Intersectionality
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , Fall 2013 , pp. 405 - 424
Copyright
Copyright © W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful and insightful comments. My thanks also go to the editors of this special issue, with a special mention to Barbara Tomlinson. Finally I thank several colleagues and friends for the generous feedback I received at various conferences (Paris 2011, Lancaster 2012, Lausanne 2012) where I presented earlier versions of this article: Fatima Aït ben Lmadani, Philippe Allard, Paola Bacchetta, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Anne-Marie Fortier, Patricia Hill Collins, Nasima Moujoud, Jennifer Petzen, and Julianne Pidduck.

References

REFERENCES

Ahmed, Sara (2004). Declarations of Whiteness: The Non-Performativity of Anti-Racism. Borderlands, 3(2): n.p. ⟨http://www.borderlands.net.aulvo13no2_2004/ahmed_declarations.htm⟩ (accessed September 14, 2012).Google Scholar
Ahmed, Sara (2012). On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Ait Ben Lmadani, Fatima and Moujoud, Nasima (2012). Peut-on faire de l'intersectionnalité sans les ex-colonisé-e-s? Mouvements, 72: 11–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alcoff, Linda (1995). The Problem of Speaking for Others. In Roof, Judith and Wiegman, Robyn (Eds.), Who Can Speak? Authority and Critical Identity, pp. 97–119. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Alexander-Floyd, Nikol (2012). Disappearing Acts: Reclaiming. Intersectionality in the Social Sciences in a Post-Black Feminist Era. Feminist Formations, 24(1): 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beckett, Samuel (1983). Worstward Ho. London: John Calder.Google Scholar
Bilge, Sirma (2011). Doing Critical Intersectionality in an Age of Popular and Corporate Diversity Culture. Paper presented at the International Colloquium on Intersecting Situations of Domination, from a Transnational and Transdisciplinary Perspective, Université de Paris 8, Paris, June 8, 18p.Google Scholar
Bilge, Sirma (2012). Developing Queer Solidarities: A Plea for Queer Intersectionality. In Smith, Malinda and Jaffer, Fatima (Eds.), Beyond the Queer Alphabet: Conversations in Gender, Sexuality and Intersectionality. Alberta, Canada: University of Alberta.Google Scholar
Bilge, Sirma (forthcoming). Why Do Critical Ethnic Studies Matter? And Why They Should Matter to Sociology. In Gervais, Stephan, Iacovino, Raffaele, and Poutanen, Mary Anne (Eds.), Living in Québec: A Reader in Intercultural Relations. Montreal, Canada: McGill-Queen's.Google Scholar
Black Women's Blueprint (2011). Open Letter to Slutwalk. ⟨http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-brison/slutwalk-Black-women_b_980215.html⟩ (accessed January 29, 2012).Google Scholar
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo (2006). Racism without Racists. New York: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Bouteldja, Houria (2013). Race, classe et genre: l'intersectionnalité entre réalité sociale et limites politiques. Indigènes de la République, June 24. ⟨http://www.indigenes-republique.fr/article.php3?id_article=1850⟩ (accessed July 22, 2013).Google Scholar
Carby, Hazel (1982). White Woman Listen! Black Feminism and the Boundaries of Sisterhood. In Studies, Centre for Contemporary Cultural (Ed.), The Empire Strikes Back: Race and Racism in 70s Britain, pp. 212–235. London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Collins, Patricia Hill (1989). The Social Construction of Black Feminist Thought. Signs, 14(4): 745–773.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, Patricia Hill (2000). Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Collins, Patricia Hill (2009). Another Kind of Public Education. Race, Schools, the Media and Democratic Possibilities. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Crenshaw, Kimberlé (1993). Beyond Racism and Misogyny: Black Feminism and 2 Live Crew. In Matsuda, Mari J., Lawrence, Charles R. II, Delgado, Richard, and Crenshaw, Kimberlé Williams (Eds.), Words That Wound: Critical Race Theory, Assaultive Speech and the First Amendment, pp. 111–132. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Crenshaw, Kimberlé (2011). Postscript. In Lutz, Helma, Vivar, Maria Teresa Herrera, and Supik, Linda (Eds.), Framing Intersectionality: Debates on a Multi-Faceted Concept in Gender Studies, pp. 221–233. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.Google Scholar
The Crunk Feminist Collective (2011). “I Saw the Sign, But Did We Really Need a Sign?” ⟨http://crunkfeministcollective.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/i-saw-the-sign-but-did-we-really-need-a-sign-slutwalk-and-racism/.06.10.2011⟩ (accessed September 14, 2012).Google Scholar
Denis, Ann (2008). Review Essay: Intersectional Analysis: A Contribution of Feminism to Sociology. International Sociology, 23: 677–694.Google Scholar
Duggan, Lisa (2003). The Twilight of Equality? Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics and the Attack on Democracy. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Erel, Umut, Haritaworn, Jin, Rodríguez, Encarnación Gutiérrez, and Klesse, Christian (2008). On the Depoliticisation of lntersectionality Talk: Conceptualising Multiple Oppressions in Critical Sexuality Studies. In Kuntsman, Adi and Miyake, Esperanza (Eds.), Out of Place: Interrogating Silences in Queerness/Raciality, pp. 265–292. New York: Raw Nerve Books.Google Scholar
Ferguson, Roderick A. (2012). The Reorder of Things: The University and its Pedagogies of Minority Difference. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel (1980). Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972–1977. Edited by Gordon, C.. Brighton, UK: Harvester.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel (1990). The History of Sexuality, Volume I. Translated by Hurley, R.. New York: Vintage.Google Scholar
Frankenberg, Ruth (1993). White Women, Race Matters. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, David Theo (2006). Racial Europeanization. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 29: 331–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guillaumin, Colette (1995). Racism, Sexism, Power and Ideology. London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gutiérrez Rodríguez, Encarnación (2010). Decolonizing Postcolonial Rhetoric. In Rodríguez, E. Gutiérrez, Boatca, Manuela, and Costa, Sergio (Eds.), Decolonizing European Sociology: Transdisciplinary Approaches, pp. 49–70. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Hall, Stuart (1997). The Local and the Global. In McClintock, Anne, Mufti, Aamir, and Shohat, Ella (Eds.), Dangerous Liaisons: Gender, Nation and Postcolonial Perspectives, pp. 170–187. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Haritaworn, Jinthana (2012). The Biopolitics of Mixing: Thai Multiracialities and Haunted Ascendancies. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Kerner, Ina (2012). Questions of Intersectionality: Reflections on the Current Debate in German Gender Studies. European Journal of Women Studies, 19(2): 203–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knapp, Gudrun-Axeli (2005). Race, Class, Gender: Reclaiming Baggage in Fast Travelling Theories. European Journal of Women's Studies, 12: 249–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, Gail (2009). Celebrating Intersectionality? Debates on a Multi-Faceted Concept in Gender Studies: Themes from a Conference. European Journal of Women's Studies, 16: 203–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, Gail (2013). Unsafe Travel: Experiencing Intersectionality and Feminist Displacements. Signs, 38(4): 869–892.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luft, Rachel (2009). Intersectionality and the Risk of Flattening Difference. In Berger, Michelle Tracy and Guidroz, Kathleen (Eds.), The Intersectional Approach: Transforming the Academy through Race, Class and Gender, pp. 100–117. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Luft, Rachel E. and Ward, Jane (2009). Toward an Intersectionality Just Out of Reach: Confronting Challenges to Intersectional Practice. In Demos, Vasilikie P. and Segal, Marcia Texler (Eds.), Perceiving Gender Locally, Globally and lntersectionally, pp. 9–37. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing.Google Scholar
Lutz, Helma, Vivar, Maria Teresa Herrera, and Supik, Linda (2011). Framing Intersectionality: An Introduction. In Lutz, Helma, Vivar, Maria Teresa Herrera, and Supik, Linda (Eds.), Framing Intersectionality: Debates on a Multi-Faceted Concept in Gender Studies, pp. 1–22. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Lykke, Nina (2010). Feminist Studies: A Guide to Intersectional Theory, Methodology and Writing. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lykke, Nina (2011). Intersectional Analysis: Black Box or Useful Critical Feminist Thinking Technology? In Lutz, Helma, Vivar, Maria Teresa Herrera, and Supik, Linda (Eds.), Framing lntersectionality: Debates on a Multi-Faceted Concept in Gender Studies, pp. 207–220. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Mann, Susan Archer and Huffman, Douglas J. (2005). The Decentering of Second Wave Feminism and the Rise of the Third Wave. Science & Society, 69(1): 56–91.Google Scholar
McCall, Leslie (2005). The Complexity of Intersectionality. Signs, 30(3): 1771–1800.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McRobbie, Angela (2009). The Aftermath of Feminism: Gender, Culture and Social Change. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Minh-Ha (2009). Blackface and the Violence of Revulsion. 14.10.2009. ⟨http://www.racialicious.com/2009/10/14/blackface-and-the-violence-of-revulsion⟩ (accessed September 12, 2012).Google Scholar
Montano, John Paul (2011). An Open Letter to the Occupy Wall Street Activists, 24.09.2011. ⟨http://mzzainal-straten.blogspot.com/2011/09/open-letter-to-occupy-wallstreet.html⟩ (accessed September 9, 2012).Google Scholar
Obermeier, Karin (1989). Afro German Women: Recording Their Own History. New German Critique, 46: 172–180.Google Scholar
Oguntoye, Katharina, Opitz, May, and Schultz, Dagmar (Eds.) (1986). Farbe Bekennen: Afro-deutsche Frauen auf den Spuren ihrer Geschichte. Berlin: Orlanda Frauenverlag.Google Scholar
Petzen, Jennifer (2012). Queer Trouble: Centring Race in Queer and Feminist Politics. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 33(3): 289–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rich, Adrienne (1979). On Lies, Secrets, and Silence. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Saïd, Edward (1983). The World, the Text, and the Critic. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Schultz, Dagmar (2012). Audre Lorde: The Berlin Years 1984 to 1992. Directed by Dagmar Schultz. New York: Third World Newsreel.Google Scholar
Shields, Stephanie (2008). Gender: An Intersectionality Perspective. Sex Roles, 59: 301–311.Google Scholar
Sircar, Oishik and Jain, Dipika (2012). Editors' Introduction. New Intimacies/Old Desires: Law, Culture and Queer Politics in Neoliberal Times. Jindal Global Law Review, 4(1): 1–16.Google Scholar
Stacey, Judith (2000). Is Academic Feminism an Oxymoron? Signs, 25(4): 1189–1194.Google Scholar
Thornton Dill, Bonnie and Zambrana, Ruth Enid (2009). Critical Thinking about Inequality: An Emerging Lens. In Dill, Bonnie Thornton and Zambrana, Ruth Enid (Eds.), Emerging Intersections: Race, Class and Gender in Theory, Policy and Practice, pp. 1–21. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Tomlinson, Barbara (2013). Colonizing Intersectionality: Replicating Racial Hierarchy in Feminist Academic Arguments. Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture, 19(2): 254–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, Jane (2007). Respectably Queer: Diversity Culture in LGBT Activist Organizations. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.Google Scholar
Weber, Lynn and Parra-Medina, Deborah (2003). Intersectionality and Women's Health: Charting a Path to Eliminating Health Disparities. In Demos, Vasilike and Segal, Marcia T. (Eds.), Advances in Gender Research: Gender Perspectives on Health and Medicine, pp. 183–226. Oxford, UK: Elsevier Science, Ltd.Google Scholar
Wiegman, Robyn (2012). Object Lessons. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Yee, Jessica (2011). Occupy Wall Street: The Game of Colonialism and Further Nationalism to be Decolonized from the “Left.” Racialicious, September 30. ⟨http://www.racialicious.com/2011/09/30/occupy-wall-street-the-game-of-colonialism-and-further-nationalism-to-be-decolonized-from-the-left/⟩ (accessed January 21, 2012).Google Scholar
Yuval-Davis, Nira (2011). Series Introduction: The Politics of Intersectionality. In Hancock, Ange-Marie (Ed.), Solidarity Politics for Millenials. A Guide to Ending the Oppression Olympics, pp. xi–xv. New York: Palgrave-Macmillan.Google Scholar