Intersectionality Diversity Literacy Week 2 / Lecture 2 Prepared by Claire Kelly

Intersectionality  “…all women are White and all Blacks are men..”  Intersectionality is what occurs when a woman from a minority group... tries to navigate the main crossing in the city.... The main highway is ‘racism road’. One cross street can be Colonialism, then Patriarchy Street.... She has to deal not only with one form of oppression but with all forms, those named as road signs, which link together to make a double, a triple, multiple, a many layered blanket of oppression (Crenshaw, 2001) Prepared by Claire Kelly

Additive model  e.g. poor black women suffer three different oppressions  as Blacks  as women  as working class/poor  triple burden / triple oppression  “Add gender / race / class and stir” Prepared by Claire Kelly

Mutually constitutive model  Differences are interlocking, they co-construct simultaneously (Lerner)  They cannot be understood without each other (Lerner)  “Race is constructed genderically and by way of class… Class is constructed racially and genderically; gender is constrcuted by class and racially.” (Lerner, p.197) Prepared by Claire Kelly

Colonial femininities / masculinities  Insert: picture of Sarah Baartman to illustrate colonial femininities/ masculinities   ntot_venus.jpg?w=446&h=760 ntot_venus.jpg?w=446&h=760  gallery.com/thumbnail/134636/1/The-Hottentot- Venus-In-The-Salon-Of-The-Duchess-Of-Berry, jpg gallery.com/thumbnail/134636/1/The-Hottentot- Venus-In-The-Salon-Of-The-Duchess-Of-Berry, jpg  4ce5.jpg 4ce5.jpg Prepared by Claire Kelly

Political & structural intersectionality  Structural intersectionality :... the ways in which the location of women of colour at the intersection of race and gender makes our actual experience of domestic violence, rape and remedial reform qualitatively different from that of white women. (Crenshaw, 1991, p. 3)  Political intersectionality :... both feminist and antiracist politics have functioned in tandem to marginalize the issue of violence against women of colour. (Crenshaw,1991, p. 3) Prepared by Claire Kelly

e.g. Zuma Rape Trial (2006)  Insert: pictures of Jacob Zuma & images of his female supporters  ews-graphics-2006-_626731a.jpg ews-graphics-2006-_626731a.jpg  s/Photos/060324/060324_africa_rape_hmed6p.grid- 6x2.jpg s/Photos/060324/060324_africa_rape_hmed6p.grid- 6x2.jpg Prepared by Claire Kelly

Extra References  Crenshaw, K. (1991) Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43 (6), pp  Crenshaw, K. (2001) Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity, politics and violence against women of color. Paper presented at theWorld Conference Against Racism. Available at Prepared by Claire Kelly