Intersectionality

Since Kimberle Crenshaw (1989) coined the term ‘intersectionality’ to argue for the need to consider lived experiences of Black American women, intersectionality has become a buzz word in academic research, policy frame- works and community service delivery. While Crenshaw is widely known for coming up with the framework of intersectionality, one would argue that other scholars have also considered how multiple, interconnected systems of domination in our society affect individual lives and communities differently and unequally. For example, W.E.B Du Bois, an African American founding thinker of American sociology, in his 1899 work, The Philadelphia Negro examines the overlap of race, class and gender and the interlocking systems of oppression of racism, capitalism and sexism (Rabaka, 2017, p. 104). Patricia Hill Collins (1990) uses ‘the matrix of domination’ to explain how the matrix creates, reproduces and solidifies the superiority of power holders and inferiority of subordinated subjects across the lines of nationality, race, class, gender, sexuality, age and ability (1990, p. 225). Other highly acclaimed intersectional feminist scholars include Angela Davis (1983), Audre Lorde (1984), Gloria Anzaldúa (1987) and bell hooks (2015) just to name a few. These influential women of colour scholars have shown in their works how intersecting, interlocking, overlapping systems of dominance and oppression – such as colonialism, slavery, racial capitalism, patriarchy, heterosexism and neoliberalism – debilitate individuals, communities and countries.