The life of Hamer diminishes the idea of hierarchy among the different categories of difference because they are all separate. It proves that you cannot separate different identities and put any above another. As a black female many of her identities were affected because of these two categories of difference. Being a black woman makes it even harder to separate her categories of different making her susceptible to many different processes of domination as well as many different systems of domination.
After discussing the way in which intersectionality influenced the events in Hamer’s life it is time to now consider mainstreaming intersectionality to prevent other women from being lost. Dhamoon in her article Considerations on Mainstreaming
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We know that they theory behind intersectionality is not new, just the term is. We acknowledge that although the term didn’t come about until 1989, the concept existed. We know this to be true because we saw the way in which the theory, not the name affected Hamer throughout her life.
The second consideration is the way in which the subject is analyzed. By acknowledging identity (black woman), categories of difference (race and gender), processes of differentiation (racialization and gendering), and the systems of domination (racism and patriarch) it allows us to better understand the separation of black from white. By mainstreaming intersectionality, we can better understand the process and systems of patriarchy and racism and therefore stop black women from being forgotten in the movements in which they affect so much.
Third, is the complexity of subject formation. In order to mainstream intersectionality, we must address how the subject formations, differences, and vehicles of power will be analyzed. Each process of differentiation and system of domination need each other to function. Therefore, we cannot address the problem as monolithic. We must not forget that we have to break down each system in order to be able to truly accept the roles of black women in
In many contemporary spaces, intersectionality is taught and consumed as a static concept of merely listing identities carried by one person simultaneously. It’s used more often as a checklist than a place of analysis or resistance. However, the use of intersectionality as just an apolitical tool, rather than a theory born from the knowledge of Black women experiencing a “triple jeopardy” of oppression and seeking liberation by deconstructing the institutions that bind them, is reductionist at best. In “Intersectionality is Not Neutral”May communicates that intersectionality pushes us to question and challenge the relatively mundane or acceptable norms in society that lend themselves to a continuous legacy of systemic inequality.
Elsa Barkley Brown focuses on the intersectionality of being a black woman in America, in “What Has Happened Here?”. Black women experience different forms of oppression simultaneously. Indeed, racism, sexism, classism, as well as heterosexism, intertwine and form layers of oppression.
Intersectionality can be seen in many situations across the world. Oftentimes it is related to assimilation and adaptation, however these situations are not always seen as a force to completely change one’s views. In Yvonne Ridley’s essay How I Came to Love the Veil she explains how her “devastating” situation of captivity by the Taliban altered her views. In Sandra Cisneros’ essay Only Daughter she also explains how intersectionality lead her to believe that her father would no longer accept her. And in the essay In the Canon, For All the Wrong Reasons by Amy Tan she explains that she does not desire to be a famous writer simply because of her ethnicity but rather would like to be well known because of her writing
“On Being Black…” is an autobiographical essay discussing the black working class and how in order for black women to “have-it-all” they must have a career, home, and husband. But when Bonner refers to the younger generations, they find flaws with the working class’ expectations on becoming middle to upper class. The Young Black generation challenges the ideology of what it means to “have-it-all,” while dismantling institutional racism to create their own ideological racial uplift. In both works, she questions racial categorization and the divisions among class amongst African Americans, a reoccurring theme for her later
In our society of today, there are many images that are portrayed through media and through personal experience that speak to the issues of black motherhood, marriage and the black family. Wherever one turns, there is the image of the black woman in the projects and very rarely the image of successful black women. Even when these positive images are portrayed, it is almost in a manner that speaks to the supposed inferiority of black women. Women, black women in particular, are placed into a society that marginalizes and controls many of the aspects of a black woman’s life. As a result, many black women do not see a source of opportunity, a way to escape the drudgery of their everyday existence. For example, if we were to ask black mother’s if they would change their situation if it became possible for them to do so, many would change, but others would say that it is not possible; This answer would be the result of living in a society that has conditioned black women to accept their lots in lives instead of fighting against the system of white and male dominated supremacy. In Ann Petry’s The Street, we are given a view of a black mother who is struggling to escape what the street symbolizes. In the end though, she becomes captive to the very thing she wishes to escape. Petry presents black motherhood, marriage and the black family as things that are marginalized according to the society in which they take place.
In the world of sociology and the studies of human interaction, the term intersectionality has been defined as, “the idea that various biological, social, and cultural categories – including gender, race, class, and ethnicity – interact and contribute towards systematic social inequality” (“Definition of Intersectionality – Sociology”). However, as Dr. White defined the term on the Spring 2014 Final Writing Assignment sheet, these categories that make up one’s identity can “intersect or interact in ways that can either advantage or disadvantage the person’s well-being and development” (White). In regards to the text, David M. Newman’s Identities & Inequalities: Exploring the Intersections of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality, Newman progressively explores the concept of intersectionality throughout the entirety of the text, but he does not ever actually define the term itself. Although an exact, clear-cut definition of the term “intersectionality” has not been officially established, the concept of the term is fairly simple to understand. Every person has different social identities that they carry to their name. Intersectionality is simply an analysis of how those different identities play off of each other and how they affect the person they are describing.
In the month of March 2016, Women of the World Poetry Slam had Rachel Wiley, a poet and body-positive activist, present her now viral poem called “The Dozens” (Vagianos 2016). This poem was about slams white feminism as a clear indication of whiteness self-defense mechanism. In this poem Wiley included various kinds social events that have occurred in the past years and just to name two: Raven Symone on blackness and Miley Cyrus and Nicki Manji at the VMAs. White feminism continues to become more problematic as the media continues to allow it to be because whiteness makes money; however, intersectionality about race, public imagery, and actual feminism also continues to go viral as the diversity of American become more and more productive.
Often identity is only thought of as a collection of individual characteristics that are independent such as sex, gender, race, class, sexuality, etc. Intersectionality is when these characteristics are transformed by one another and “tend to collapse into one another in the context of everyday life”. Dorothy Allison wrote Two of Three Things I Know for Sure where she explains aspects of her life through chronological stories revealing details and providing the reader with lessons she learned throughout her experiences. This book can be read with an intersectionality lens focusing on the moments or stories where gendered poverty shapes people’s experience of sex and sexuality as well as how gender, sexuality, and class transforms whiteness into a stigmatizing attribute rather than it’s usual power given attribute. Allison’s scene with her Aunt Maudy and the scene with her girlfriend both show intersectionality in different aspects and times of Allison’s life.
Such an encounter becomes a source of discomfort and momentarily a crisis of racial meaning. Without a racial identity, one is in danger of having no identity" (Michael Omi, Howard Winant, 12). It is obvious when we look at someone we try to get a sense of who they are. We categorize people within our society and place them by gender, ethnicity, race, religion, and even social class. Because one of the first things we utilize is race and gender it is questioned that without racial identity one is in danger of having no identity. Personally, I believe that this is true, for instance, within our society gender roles are very apparent. We utilize gender as a form of identity, because many people now are coming forward with wanting to change their identity there has been ann uproar to try to fight against equality for citizens that identify with a different gender. What is to be considered is the same uproar that is occurring with people who identify with a gender is also occurring with citizens that are identified solely on race. Within our different generations there has been an uprising in mixed races, a person can be
For instance, relating to the employment, there were two obvious hierarchical differences between the black and the white, and women and men. According to Kimberle (2015), in the late 1970, the employment opportunities for black people and women were still in the straitened circumstance, furthermore, even if there were chances for them, “... the black job were men’s job, and the women’s job were only for whites.” (Kimberle Cranshaw 2015). In other words, there was no opportunity for the black women. In this case, the unjust discriminatory treatment for black women simply resulted from their intersected identities as a “black” and “woman” both were marginalized in the society. In regard to this, however, the important point is that people did not analyze the cause of this situation through considering it from the both racial and sexual sides simultaneously. People ignored the experience of the others, and categorized the black women based on their sex as a “woman”. In other words, people, especially who were in the privileged position, just neglected the subtle “differences” of others, and they stretched the rules to their own advantages. Relating to these “differences”, Audre Lorde (1984: 115) explains that “ But we have no patterns for relating across our human differences as equals. As a result, those differences have been misnamed and misused in the
These type of studies aim to provide information on how different identities such as race, class, gender, sexual orientation are connected to one another. With this understanding, it can be acknowledged that one can be an oppressor at one point in time but be oppressed at another. These roles are constantly changing, based on a variety of factors. Integrative anti-racism allows a better understanding of these social oppressions.
Among the many subjects covered in this book are the three classes of oppression: gender, race and class in addition to the ways in which they intersect. As well as the importance of the movement being all-inclusive, advocating the idea that feminism is in fact for everybody. The author also touches upon education, parenting and violence. She begins her book with her key argument, stating that feminist theory and the movement are mainly led by high class white women who disregarded the circumstances of underprivileged non-white women.
Discrimination. Intersecting identities. Domination. In today’s society, people criticize in others of their race, gender, abilities, age, etc., as those certain people are trying to destroy our humanity. Creating this situation in the social society, will affect the social, political, and economic factors in various countries, also starting a war between different race or ethnicity. The role of being diversity in modern society, gives people to communicate better and have more confidence to express our opinions or beliefs. Intersectionality, is a study of interaction between different groups with distinct aspects/appearances, in which they’re consider as inequality or discrimination, as it relates to my privileged life for being a Hispanic, low class, and educated male.
However, in a realistic context it would be unrealistic to eliminate radical alterity in a real life context, as so many individuals have to so many thought processes ingrained into their psyche. Therefore, it would take a lifetime to learn and unlearn problematic ways of thinking. Although, there is a way of ensuring that anthropologists regulate themselves in an intellectual process, especially when conducting ethnographies - through implementing the concept of intersectionality in their personal capacity. Intersectionality is a feminist theory coined by Crenshaw. It is defined as a concept that used to illustrate oppression, using social markers that create different identities in society. When these intersect each other, nodes of various oppressions are produced as the outcome (Shields, 2008: 302). For example, oppression experienced by black women, Crenshaw terms as a “double discrimination” ; as oppressive hegemonies are designed to oppress various groups on the basis of race, class and gender. Although with black women, it has double the intended effect (Crenshaw, 1989: 149). Therefore, when presenting a detailed ethnography, it would be in the anthropologist’s best interest to incorporate intersectionality as a theory to address radical alterity. Even though it cannot eliminate the existence of radical alterity completely, it is able to help the observationist, who is usually the anthropologist, to help keep
Intersectionality really plays a key factor in everyone’s life. I know I never think about whether I will be able to buy a home someday. The only thing that I think could affect that is my credit score. To other families though it could be their race, gender, sexuality, or many others. We as people are too complex to put within these limitations that can have a detrimental impact on our everyday