Intersectionality
Every person embodies multiple social locations (race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic class, religion, ethnicity, culture, ability, size, ….). Intersectionality is the study of how society empowers or disempowers people based on the way these multiple social locations interact. Intersectional analysis grew out of the experiences and voices of women of color who faced both racist and sexist oppression, and the economic disempowerment resulting from those oppressions.
- Background and history
- Why an Intersectional Analysis is Essential
- Principles for working with an intersectional analysis
- The Urgency of Intersectionality, Kimberlé Crenshaw, TEDTalk, 19 min. (external link)
- Danger of a Single Story, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, TEDTalk, 19 min. video. (external link)
- Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference, Audre Lorde. (external link)
- Coalition Politics, Bernice Johnson Reagon. (external link)
Racism/Antiracism Basics
- The Iceberg of Racism. Two-minute video describing one of the key content areas of the ROJ Antiracism Analysis.
- Preface to Set Free. A description of the Iceberg of Racism from a book written by the founders of the ROJ Antiracism Process (formerly “Damascus Road”).
- The Cage of Oppression. A diagram of social identities with privileged and targeted groups.
For Racial Identity Caucuses (a.k.a. “affinity groups”)
- White Caucus. Frequently asked questions about forming a white caucus and using caucusing as a tool for organizational and personal transformation.
- People of Color Caucus. Values for people of color when caucusing.
- White Supremacy Culture. A list of manifestations of white superiority and their antidotes. From Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change Groups, by Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun, ChangeWork, 2001. Useful tool for discussion and reflection in both white and people of color caucuses. There’s also an adaptation of this piece in a worksheet form, which can be helpful for reflection: White Cultural Norms and Something Different.
- Racial Identity Caucusing: A Strategy for Building Anti-Racist Collectives. A paper from Crossroads Antiracism describing reasons for and the nuts and bolts of caucusing.
- Qualities of Authentic Relationships across Differences. A paper by Karen Pace and Dionardo Pizaña of Michigan State University Extension, in which they explore characteristics that have been important in creating and nurturing an authentic relationships across race and gender.