CANS 406 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Postcolonialism, Java Class File, Feminist Theory
22 May 2018
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Intersectionality, post-colonialism, heteronormativity and IR
-No single definition of intersectionality – it is a concept, a theory, a methodological approach,
field of scholarship, etc.
-Involves “working at the intersections” to examine the “multidimensionality of human
experience” (Chepp + Collins)
-Constructs are in a constant pool of relations to one another, and these relationships produce
both unequal material reality and distinctive social experiences
-Both about individual and group level
-Intersectional analysis can help us understand how knowledge is produced and the way that
power is exercised at different levels
-Implications for how individuals experience social life as well as what we can know and
imagine
-Helps us get insight into how individuals and groups can simultaneously experience privilege
and disadvantage
-Can help us deepen our reflections on key policy makers or elites and the every day experiences
of non-elites
-Intersectionality helps us move beyond mono-categorical thinking
-Collins and Chepp point out that there was a tendency to talk about Obama’s race and Clinton’s
gender in the 2008 elections
-Intersectionality helps us understand why this is so problematic
-Intersectional approaches can help us heighten the complexity of our analyses of power
-Traditional drive towards parsimony in theory, and intersectionality questions this by
moving beyond binaries
-Helps us to think about these binaries critically
-Intersectionality also helps us see more nuanced accounts of power, seeing it as relational,
varying across different areas of social organization
-Is intersectionality inherently feminist?
-Huge range of post-colonial feminisms, but focus on shared experiences of struggle link
different third world feminists
-Post-colonial theory is concerned with analyzing continued impacts of 19th century European
colonialism
-Post-colonial feminists are reacting to the lack of attention to gender in post-colonial theory and
universalizing tendencies in western feminism
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
No single definition of intersectionality it is a concept, a theory, a methodological approach, field of scholarship, etc. Involves working at the intersections to examine the multidimensionality of human experience (chepp + collins) Constructs are in a constant pool of relations to one another, and these relationships produce both unequal material reality and distinctive social experiences. Intersectional analysis can help us understand how knowledge is produced and the way that power is exercised at different levels. Implications for how individuals experience social life as well as what we can know and imagine. Helps us get insight into how individuals and groups can simultaneously experience privilege and disadvantage. Can help us deepen our reflections on key policy makers or elites and the every day experiences of non-elites. Collins and chepp point out that there was a tendency to talk about obama"s race and clinton"s gender in the 2008 elections. Intersectionality helps us understand why this is so problematic.
