Intersectionality

Abstract

Among feminists scholars’ critiques of knowledge production has been the disconnect between theory and practice. Feminists of color, in particular, have engaged in this critique in their articulations of themselves as scholars, their research foci, and the relevance of their intellectual labor to their communities’ struggles for social justice. Their approach to intersectionality as a practice linked to social justice is evidenced in their articulation of identities such as “insurgent Black intellectual” and “Xicanista,” as well as practices such as that of “oppositional consciousness.” Describing Black feminism as a social justice project, Patricia Hill Collins defines her work as intellectual activism and considers how engaged scholarship can remain oppositional. The commitment by feminist scholars of color to continue to enact intellectual labor that challenges unjust social, political, economic, and cultural arrangements can be carried out in different ways, but all entail an intersectional practice. I will focus on only two strategies—the assertion by feminist scholars of color of their intellectual labor’s intended intervention, and the careful selection of sites in which to carry out their work—and as I show, both strategies also involve certain risks.