Intersectional Feminist Activisms

This book includes essays that directly uncover how power asymmetries and related forms of marginalization and oppression function in the political and policy arenas with a special emphasis on the intersection of several systems of subordination. This edited volume tackles two main questions: first, what are the main claims, struggles, and possibilities of contemporary intersectional feminisms; and second, how shall we, as scholars, address intersectional (feminist) activisms in our research – theoretically, methodologically, and empirically. These issues are debated from several intersectional (feminist) perspectives, locations, and positionalities. The globally oriented and empirically grounded scope of this volume is undeniable. This book goes beyond the Western hegemony in intersectionality-related research and knowledge production, bringing in practices, experiences, and critical perspectives of intersectional (feminist) scholars and activists who are not necessarily located in the most privileged social, political, and financial milieus. This book will be of interest to students and scholars from across the social sciences and humanities with an interest in intersectionality, gender, feminism, racism, LGBT+ and queer studies, activism and social movement studies. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Journal of Women, Politics, and Policy.

This ground breaking book is an innovative, passionate and provocative exploration of intersectionality. The sustained emphasis on activism and practice reasserts the potency of intersectionality borne out of Black feminism. The rare and pioneering international reach of this book crosses four continents. In this book context matters: there is no intersectionality without context! Resting on the premise that we cannot work for the liberation of individuals, communities and societies without intersectionality, this book asks: How does intersectionality challenge the structures and discourses of social work education, management and organisation? What is the revolutionary potential of intersectionality? Intersectional in its method and content, the blend of practice, activism, research and theory troubles geopolitical and disciplinary boundaries. The range of topics include: Islamophobia, immigration, feminist movements, social work education, violence against women and girls, gender, sexuality, race, disability, age, religion, nationality, citizenship policy and legal frameworks. This book will appeal to activists for social justice, social work practitioners, researchers, lecturers, students and those working in the field of Black feminist thinking. The focus on the activism of intersectionality provides a clear pathway into Black feminist thinking and its application to social work internationally and to emancipatory collective political activism worldwide.

A major publishing event, the collected writings of the groundbreaking scholar who "first coined intersectionality as a political framework" (Salon) For more than twenty years, scholars, activists, educators, and lawyers--inside and outside of the United States--have employed the concept of intersectionality both to describe problems of inequality and to fashion concrete solutions. In particular, as the Washington Post reported recently, "the term has been used by social activists as both a rallying cry for more expansive progressive movements and a chastisement for their limitations." Drawing on black feminist and critical legal theory, Kimberlé Crenshaw developed the concept of intersectionality, a term she coined to speak to the multiple social forces, social identities, and ideological instruments through which power and disadvantage are expressed and legitimized. In this comprehensive and accessible introduction to Crenshaw's work, readers will find key essays and articles that have defined the concept of intersectionality, collected together for the first time. The book includes a sweeping new introduction by Crenshaw as well as prefaces that contextualize each of the chapters. For anyone interested in movement politics and advocacy, or in racial justice and gender equity, On Intersectionality will be compulsory reading from one of the most brilliant theorists of our time.

Examining the ways in which feminist and queer activists confront privilege through the use of intersectionality, this edited collection presents empirical case studies from around the world to consider how intersectionality has been taken up (or indeed contested) by activists in order to expose and resist privilege. The volume sets out three key ways in which intersectionality operates within feminist and queer movements: it is used as a collective identity, as a strategy for forming coalitions, and as a repertoire for inclusivity. The case studies presented in this book then evaluate the extent to which some, or all, of these types of intersectional activism are used to confront manifestations of privilege. Drawing upon a wide range of cases from across time and space, this volume explores the difficulties with which activists often grapple when it comes to translating the desire for intersectionality into a praxis which confronts privilege. Addressing inter-related and politically relevant questions concerning how we apply and theorise intersectionality in our studies of feminist and queer movements, this timely edited collection will be of interest to students and scholars from across the social sciences and humanities with an interest in gender and feminism, LGBT+ and queer studies, and social movement studies.

The collection of essays outlines how feminists employ a variety of online platforms, practices, and tools to create spaces of solidarity and to articulate a critical politics that refuses popular forms of individual, consumerist, white feminist empowerment in favor of collective, tangible action. Including scholars and activists from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives, these essays help to catalog the ways in which feminists are organizing online to mobilize different feminist, queer, trans, disability, reproductive justice, and racial equality movements. Together, these perspectives offer a comprehensive overview of how feminists are employing the tools of the internet for political change. Grounded in intersectional feminism––a perspective that attends to the interrelatedness of power and oppression based on race, class, gender, ability, sexuality, and other identities––this book gathers provocations, analyses, creative explorations, theorizations, and case studies of networked feminist activist practices. In doing so, this collection archives important work already done within feminist digital cultures and acts as a vital blueprint for future feminist action.

Clumsy stereotypes of the Romani and Travellers communities abound, not only culturally in programmes such as Big Fat Gypsy Weddings, but also amongst educators, social workers, administrators and the medical profession. Gypsy cultures are invariably presented as ruled by tradition and machismo. Women are presented as helpless victims, especially when it comes to gendered forms of violence. The reality, however, is much more complicated. In Gypsy Feminism, Laura Corradi demonstrates how Romaphobia – racist and anti-Gypsy rhetoric and prejudice, pervading every level of society – has led to a situation where Romani communities face multiple discrimination. In this context, the empowerment of women and girls becomes still more difficult: until recently, for example, women have largely remained silent about domestic violence in order to protect their communities, which are already under attack. Examining feminist research and action within Romani communities, Corradi demonstrates the importance of an intersectional approach in order to make visible the combination of racism and sexism that Gypsy women face every day. This concise and authoritative book will appeal to scholars and students in the areas of Sociology, Cultural Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies and Anthropology, as well as Politics, Media Studies, Social Policy, and Social Work. It is also an invaluable resource for activists, community and social service workers, and policymakers.

Badass Feminist Politics explores gender, difference, feminist methods, stigma, social movements, mediated communication, intersectional feminist theory and pedagogy. It is a testament to resilience, resistance, and forward thinking about what these themes mean for new feminist agendas.

"Titania McGrath mercilessly satirises the Left's online umbrage brigade, the permanently offended, those who have taken on the role of policing thoughts and words to the point of absurdity" --