Intersectionality

Abstract

An individual studying and working at a university is never seen as simply an “educator”, “administrative staff member”, or “student”, but as a complex being with a profession, function, and various identity markers like age, gender, sexuality, ability, ethnicity, skin colour, social background, language, religious beliefs, class, and academic line, among others. Drawing from Kimberlé Crenshaw’s 1989 definition of “intersectionality”, we engage this framework in this chapter to examine how structures create both obstacles and opportunities for individuals along the lines of racism, ableism, sexism, trans- and homo-hate, and more. Illustrated with fictive cases, the chapter highlights how identity, power relations, discrimination, and inequalities occur in varying and intersecting dimensions in university spaces. We present intersectionality as a theoretical framework to facilitate a contemplative exercise in a manner that advances a critical understanding of power axes in academia. Subsequently, in line with the tenets of the framework, we list some questions for the critical evaluation of one’s own privileges and oppressions, as well as the structures of power in institutions, to foster action based on a more detailed understanding of problems.