Intersectionality in Education Research: (Re)Membering an Intellectual History

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

Intersectionality is a concept born out of Black feminist thought and carried into critical race theory. While these literatures have given it scholarly legitimation, intersectionality describes a way of being under which Black women have long operated given their constant negotiation between blackness and womanness and the compounded effects of racism and sexism in their daily lives. In recent years, intersectionality has become a popular word in public parlance and in education research. As a result of this popularity, questions arise about how “true” popular notions of intersectionality are to its roots in Black feminism. The purpose of this session is to reconnect intersectionality with its intellectual history in Black feminist thought and to explore the costs and affordances of its present popularity.

Sub Unit

• Division G - Social Context of Education

Chair

• Jamelia Nicole Harris, University of California - Los Angeles

Discussant

• Bettina L. Love, University of Georgia

Panelists

• Jessica C. Harris, University of California - Los Angeles

• Venus E. Evans-Winters, African American Policy Forum

• Qiana M. Cutts, Mississippi State University

• Erika C. Bullock