Resources

Definitions and concepts we may explore, critique, and apply in our research:

Kimberle Crenshaw (who first coined the term intersectionality in 1991) argued that multiple oppressions must be considered as mutually constitutive; the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and cannot be understood when examined separately.

• Intersectionality (from Patricia Hill Collins and Sirma Bilge, 2016)

A way of understanding and analyzing the complexity in the world, in people, and in human experiences.

The events and conditions of social and political life and the self can seldom be understood as shaped by one factor.

They are generally shaped by many factors in diverse and mutually influencing ways. When it comes to social inequality,

people's lives and the organization of power in a given society are better understood as being shaped not by a single axis of social division, be it race or gender or class, but by many axes that work together and influence each other.

Intersectionality as an analytic tool gives people better access to the complexity of the world and of themselves.

• Social locations

Positions of structural power, within matrices of oppression

• Social categories

Shared systems of meanings associated with social locations

• Social processes

Day to day group and organizational mechanisms that continually constitute social locations, categories and identities

• Social Identities

How people experience and internalize their social locations and social categories

Working Definitions for Rackham Critical Intersectionality Workshop

Fall 2017

NOTE: The definitions below represent working definitions, some of which are contested. Tensions and collaborations among disciplines create fertile space for this workshop to continue considering these definitions and concepts and how to incorporate them into our own research moving forward.

CRITICAL SOCIAL THEORY:

Bodies of knowledge and sets of institutional practices that actively grapple with the central questions facing groups of people. These groups are differently placed in specific political, social, and historic contexts characterized by injustice. What makes critical social theory “critical” is its commitment to justice, for one’s own group and/or for that of other groups, and its engagement in examining what contributes to patterns of injustice and how these can be disrupted.

INTERSECTIONALITY: [involves a major critique of multiculturalism]

Analysis claiming that systems of race, social class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, nation, and age form mutually constructing features of social organization, which shape peoples’ experiences and, in turn are shaped by them. (Collins). Vary from context to context. Includes:

• Social locations: Positions of structural power, within matrices of oppression
• Social categories: Shared systems of meanings associated with social locations
• Social processes: Day to day group and organizational mechanisms that continually constitute social locations, categories and identities
• (situated) Social Identities: How people experience and internalize their social locations and social categories, influenced by their positions within social structures.
• Types of intersectionality: Intersectionality can focus on intersectionalities:
• within one category,
• on relationships between categories, or
• endeavor to eliminate categories.

Some approaches also examine different steps in oppression and privilege and pathways to different consequences.

• WEAK INTERSECTIONALITY (Dill and Kohlman, 2011) – the incorporation of multiple forms of diversity and identity into research questions and practice, but has the effect of “reproducing hegemonic knowledge (and practices) rather than challenging assumptions about social worlds and systems”
• STRONG INTERSECTIONALITY works to produce counterhegemonic knowledge and approaches to marginalized and subjugated social groups and/or about the operations of power and privilege. They analyze systems of inequality in relation to one another.

SOME OTHER RELEVANT TERMS

COLLECTIVE IDENTITY: The shared sense of belonging to a group, whereby the identity of the group becomes part of the individual’s identity.

COLLECTIVE MEMORY AND HISTORICAL TRAUMA: Many forms of evidence are accumulating that experiences of mass oppressive events (e.g., colonialism, slavery, war, genocide, cultural destruction) exhibit higher levels of traumatic reactions and related consequences (physical, psychological and social) over many generations. These contribute substantially to current disparities. Thus, current experiences of oppressive circumstances are frequently compounded by intergenerational transmission of historical trauma and on-going distrust and compensatory coping strategies. These can greatly inform work across group boundaries, but can also be very difficult to understand and navigate.

Patterns of collective memory pass on not just memories, but also frameworks for understanding past and current events, and emotional reactions to them. Traumatic reactions can also be passed on, through collective memory, socialization, and probably epigenetics. Cognitive schemas, emotional processing, and physical reactions are all part of traumatic reactions.

CONSCIOUSNESS: Process of bringing into awareness the multiple aspects of one’s experiences including historical, environmental, cultural, interpersonal and intrapersonal. The quality or state of being aware especially of something within oneself. The state or fact of being conscious of an external object, state, or fact. Awareness; especially concern for some social or political cause.

CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING: Experiences that help individuals or groups become more aware of the workings of political, social, economic, and/or cultural issues in their everyday lives. (PH Collins) The activity of seeking to make people more aware of personal, social, or political forces.

CONTESTED IDEOLOGICAL TERRAIN:

A theoretical framework that looks at cultural practices that reinforce both the existing power dynamics (and potentially different ideologies within these) and the agency of human groups and individuals that challenge those existing frameworks and understandings.

CRITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS: A process of continuous self-reflection and action to discover and uncover how we, our approaches to social work practice, and our environments have been and continue to be shaped by societal assumptions and power dynamics: an essential tool to help us to recognize, understand and work to change the social forces that shape our societies, ourselves, and the lives of our clients and work for social justice. Elements of critical consciousness include:

• Reflecting on oneself historically, in relation to others, including an awareness of intersectionality—how one’s race, gender, class, and other group identities simultaneously work together to create one’s perception & experiences (Freire, 1972 p.16; Collins 2000);
• Developing “structural perception” – the ability to see or “unveil” the social, political, and cultural forces that shape our everyday experiences (Freire, 1985);
• Developing “critical epistemology”: - a radical curiosity re: the nature of knowledge & how different truth claims support social inequalities (Freire, 1972 p.18; Agger, 1998).
• A commitment to learning dialogically in specific contexts with others (Freire, 1972);
• A commitment to ethical actions to end injustice (Freire, 1972).

CULTURE: Behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, language, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.

• CATEGORICAL APPROACHES--examination of distinctive traits that categorize a culture, e.g., language, values, assumptions and expectations about appropriate behavior and relationships, beliefs about what is important, social institutions and structures.
• TRANSACTIONAL APPROACHES--recognizes that how people behave and perceive the world and organize their institutions, are changed by the context of a particular environment or situation, and by the key characteristics of others involved in relevant transactions.
• The "CULTURE" of the SETTING or CONTEXT (e.g., norms, roles, interaction and decision-making styles)

DECENTERING: The unseating of those who occupy centers of power, as well as the knowledge that defends their power. Typically applied to elite White male power, the concept of decentering can apply to any type of group-based power. (PH Collins)

Also often refers to interrogating “taken-for-granted” meanings, from the perspectives of those closer to the margins in any social system, and creating new, more inclusive meanings, of those that reflect perspectives from those marginalized in particular systems.

DECONSTRUCTION: In its most general sense, a constellation of methodologies used to dismantle truths or perceived norms. Deconstructive methodologies generally use three steps: identifying the binaries or oppositions that structure an argument; revealing how the dependent, negative term creates conditions for the existence of the positive term; and replacing binaries with more fluid concepts. The goal is to transcend binary logic by simultaneously being both and neither or the binary terms. (PH Collins) A method of critical analysis of philosophical and literary language that emphasizes the internal workings of language and conceptual systems, the relational quality of meaning, and assumptions implicit in forms of expression.

DOMAINS OF POWER (PH Collins, drawing on Foucault):

Disciplinary domain of power—a way of ruling that relies on bureaucratic hierarchies and techniques of surveillance

Hegemonic domain of power—a form or mode of social organization that uses ideas and ideology to absorb and thereby depoliticize oppressed groups’ dissent. Alternatively, the diffusion of power throughout the social system where multiple groups police one another and suppress one another’s dissent.

Interpersonal domain of power--discriminatory practices of everyday lived experiences that because they are so routine typically go unnoticed or remain unidentified. Strategies of everyday racism and everyday resistance occur in this domain.

Structural domain of power--a constellation of organized practices in employment, housing, government, education, law, and business that maintain an unequal and unjust distribution of social resources. Unlike bias and prejudice, which are characteristics of individuals, structural domain or power operates through laws and policies of social institutions.

MATRIX of DOMINATION: The overall organization of hierarchical power relations for any society. Any specific matrix of domination has 1) a particular arrangement of intersecting systems of oppression, e.g., race, social class, gender, sexuality, citizenship status, ethnicity and age; and 2) a particular organization of its domains of power, e.g., structural, disciplinary, hegemonic, and interpersonal (Collins).

"NON-CONSCIOUS" IDEOLOGY: Widely shared beliefs within a society about why things happen as they do. Most of these are incorporated into routine expectations about events and relationships, and those who hold them may not be aware of them. Such beliefs help to sustain the social order (e.g., African Americans or women are weak and unable to care for themselves).

OPPRESSION: An unjust situation where, systematically and over a long period of time, one group denies another group access to the resources of society. Race, gender, class, sexuality, gender expression, nation, age, and ethnicity can constitute major forms of oppression. [also disability status, religion] (Collins) Arbitrary and cruel use of power; using severe or unjust force or authority. The ways that people face barriers to participation in society, exercising rights and taking advantage of opportunities. Mechanisms that create and sustain oppression are multiple, work together, and are often not recognized (e.g., powerlessness, marginalization, exploitation, cultural hegemony, violence [I. M. Young]). An unjust situation where, systematically and over a long period of time, one group denies another group access to the resources of society. The exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner. An act or instance of oppressing. The state of being oppressed. The feeling of being heavily burdened, mentally or physically, by troubles, adverse conditions, anxiety, etc.

POSITIONALITY: One’s locations along the various axes of social group identities (ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, religion, economic class, gender, disability status, age).

Power

Many other terms are also relevant for different kinds of power (in addition to domains of power listed earlier).

• Position power is a type of structural power, deriving from one’s formal roles, and positions within systems of hierarchies, within organizations, for instance.
• The power to control definitions and understandings.
• Expert power arises from earned knowledge and skills, recognized by others
• Reward and punishment power arises from control of resources and the ability to withhold or punish those with less status and resources.
• Reference power arises from mutual respect, in which people aspire to acquire characteristics in an admired group or person.
• Collective power—arises from working with others.
• Power over, vs power with, power to do (get things done), power within.

PRAXIS: Processes of action, reflection, action. Using one's own agency as situated knowers to identify and deepen knowledge of your own standpoint and to use knowledge gained from practice to inform theory and vice versa. [from Collins--simultaneously, ideas that inform practice and practice that shapes ideas. The struggles of Black feminists for self-definition and self-determination constitutes a Black feminist praxis] Practice, as distinguished from theory.

PRIVILEGE: An unearned advantage, immunity, permission, right, or benefit granted to or enjoyed by an individual because they are members of a category of people that is accorded higher societal status, often non-conscious. A special advantage, immunity, permission, right, or benefit granted to or enjoyed by an individual or a class. A privilege is not a right and in some cases can be revoked. For example, in some countries driving on publicly maintained roads is a privilege; in others it is a right. If one violates certain rules, driving privileges can be revoked, and if one causes harm to another while exercising the right to travel just compensation may be sought and awarded. Most of us have privilege related to one or more of our social categories, and this is often invisible. Unexamined and unrecognized privilege makes it difficult to recognize oppression that others experience. It also makes it difficult for us to be allies across categories.

SUBJUGATED KNOWLEDGE: The secret knowledges generated by oppressed groups. Such knowledge typically remains hidden because revealing it weakens its purpose of assisting them in dealing with oppression. Subjugated knowledges that aim to resist oppression constitute oppositional knowledges (Collins).