intersections, part II

Speaking of intersectionality, a taste of the introduction of my 4Cs paper:

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Above all, there is an ethical imperative to pursue intersectionality as both theoretical lens and methodology. Intersectionality provides nuance, complexity, and synergy to socially and politically engaged scholarship in and out of composition studies. A broader and more compelling understanding of oppressions, identities, and justice movements.

But, aside from the transformative ethics of intersectionality, I want to focus on what is pragmatically useful about intersectionality. First, intersectionality fosters a collaborative and dialogic spirit. Even a superficial review of recent literature in the area of intersectionality reveals a great deal of collaboratively written scholarship, and oftentimes these collaborations represent multiple disciplines. Likewise the theories and bodies of research this literature draws upon is varied. Less myopia, less in-breeding. More exchange between disparate perspectives.

Second, looking at multiple identity markers as they intersect can facilitate breaking down persistent, problematic essentializing moves. Moving in and out of race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, ability and disability, and so on, can offer an alternative to linear and reductive narratives about identity—indeed intersectional analyses can create useful, theoretically engaging narratives of post-identity.

Finally, intersectionality provides specific counters to essentializing: juxtaposition and metaphor. It seems to me that identity markers can interact with one another in the context of intersectional scholarship as metaphors. Class as metaphor for race. Queerness as metaphor for disability. And so on. That is not to imply that one identity is more or less important. Metaphor does not necessarily—and in this context, should not necessarily—subordinate. Rather, the use of identity markers-as-metaphors opens up generative possibilities. Queerness opens up new understandings of difference and transgression. Class opens up new understandings of power.
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Hear more:

J.16 Friday, March 24, 2006 3:30:00 PM to 4:45:00 PM
Mobilizing Intersections of Difference in Composition Research, Teaching, and Activism

Jacqueline Jones-Royster, Chair
1. Stephanie Kerschbaum, "Beyond Categorization: Using Markers of Difference to Enable Intersectional Analysis"
2. Roxanne Mountford, "Vertigo in the Field: Difference and the Ethnography of Relation"
3. Cynthia Lewiecki-Wilson & Jay Dolmage, "Intersecting Identities: Theories and Models of an Inclusive (Dis)Composition"
4. William DeGenaro, "Disability, Class, and Million Dollar Baby: The Possibility of Intersectionality"