standing still: intersectional work as social justice jessica jennrich, director, women’s center...
Post on 05-Jan-2016
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STANDING STILL:INTERSECTIONAL WORK AS SOCIAL JUSTICE
J E S S I C A J E N N R I C H ,D I R E C T O R , W O M E N ’ S C E N T E R
M A R L E N E K O W A L S K I - B R A U NA S S I S T A N T V I C E P R O V O S T F O R S T U D E N T A F F A I R S
G R A N D VA L L E Y S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Expand frameworks for thinking about this work
Articulate an intersectional paradigm
Discuss how to engage in coalition work
Explore risks and benefits
Slow down: Apply what we have learned
FRAMEWORKS FOR OUR TIME TOGETHER
Acknowledge alternative positionalities
Share honestly (what we share here stays here)
Generosity matters
Question or comment – say so!
U.S. colleges historically served economically privileged, White, young men
1960’S and 70’s Shifts in student representation and student activism required
campuses to implement a broad range of initiatives Leads to the creation of Black Cultural Centers, Minority Student
Services,
Women’s Centers Students have largely been the leaders for change
Institutional norms and policies on campus have not changed in wholesale; the academy still reflects the nation’s bigotry and oppression
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Source: Multicultural Student Services on Campus, Edited by Dafina Lazarus Stewart
EXPANDING OUR FRAMEWORKS:IDENTITY, SOCIAL JUSTICE AND INTERSECTIONALITY
Identity
Social Justice
Intersectional
Feminist Conceptualizations of Intersectionality
• Grew out of Black feminist scholarship • Sojourner Truth, “Aint’ I a Woman?”, 1851• Combahee River Collective Statement, 1977• Patricia Hill Collins, 1990• Kimberly Crenshaw, 1994• Gloria Anzaldua, 1999
Feminist Conceptualizations (Cont.) Audre Lorde: “There is No Hierarchy of Oppression”
•“As a Black, lesbian, feminist, socialist, poet, mother of two including a boy and a member of an interracial couple, I usually find myself a part of some group in which the majority defines me as deviant, difficult, inferior, or just plain ‘wrong’”
•“Within the lesbian community I am Black, and within the Black community I am a lesbian. Any attack against Black people is a lesbian and gay issue, because I and thousands of other Black women are a part of the lesbian community. Any attack against lesbians and gays is a Black issue, because thousands of lesbians and gay men are Black. There is no hierarchy of oppression.”
APPLYING INTERSECTIONALITY
Network
• Intertwined communities of action.
• Often determined according to structure and historical factors.
• Will persist long after people leave.
• Good networks have good coalition building.
Coalition
• Often temporary or transient in terms of members.
• Characterized by a group of individuals coming together for a couple of hours at a time or for a common goal(s).
• Coalitions are the building blocks for strong networks.
Alliance
• Collaborative partnership among networks with advanced loyalty expectations.
• This requires a widening of perspectives – of ALL of us!
• Aspire to be this – goal of coalition and networks.
PRACTICE IN AN INTERSECTIONAL PARADIGM
Engage in radical
thinking by rejecting additive
approaches to oppression
that essentialize
identity.
Advocate in a more
complex, system-based
way.
Focus on root causes of problems
rather than on surface level
issues.
What are the benefits/challenges to doing intersectional work....
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