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Intersectional Feminist Approaches: Methodological Explorations

Rosa Cordillera Castillo

Comments

In this methods seminar designed for advanced BA students, we will explore how an intersectional feminist approach can be applied to students' thesis projects. Intersectional feminism directs attention to the varied ways that women experience discrimination and disadvantage. It draws on civil rights activist and scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw's theory of intersectionality. In her 1989 paper Demarginalizing The Intersection Of Race And Sex: A Black Feminist Critique Of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory And Antiracist Politics, Crenshaw defined intersectionality as “the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage” as well as privilege and power. Intersectionality alerts us to the ways in which several systems of power and discrimination interact with each other in shaping people's realities and exacerbating experiences of inequality. Crenshaw was provoked and inspired to develop this theory by Black feminists in the United States, including the Combahee River Collective, in the 1960s and 70s, who critiqued the mainstream feminist movement for ignoring, if not erasing, the experience of racialised and lower class women. During the seminar, we will explore intersectional feminism's genealogy as well as contemporary approaches and delve into its methodological contributions in terms of modes of inquiry, analysis, and representation, reciprocity, reflexivity, and ethics. We will also grapple with challenges that intersectional feminist methodologies face. Students will work on their research projects throughout the seminar in a processual approach that will entail reflecting on their positionality, research questions, data collection method, ethics, analysis and interpretation, and writing/other forms of representation. It is envisioned that at the end of the seminar, students will have a competent grasp of intersectional feminism and develop their projects either framed by this approach or inspired by the issues that this approach raises close

14 Class schedule

Regular appointments

Tue, 10:00 - 12:00 14 Class schedule

Tue, 2025-04-15 10:00 - 12:00

Lecturers:
Prof. Dr. Rosa Cordillera Castillo