Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics and Violence against Women of Color

by Kimberlé Crenshaw

Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color note includes:

* A biography of Kimberle Crenshaw
* An in-depth chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis
* A short summary
* A character list and related descriptions
* Suggested essay questions and answers
* Quotes and analysis
* A list of themes
* A glossary
* Historical context
* Two academic essays (if available)
* 100 quiz questions to improve test taking skills!

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Race, Social Justice, Politics, Theory, History

60 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

Kimberlé Crenshaw (also writes as Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw) is a professor of law at UCLA and Columbia Law School. A leading authority on civil rights, black feminist legal theory, and racism and the law, she is a co-editor of Critical Race Theory (The New Press). Crenshaw is a contributor to Ms. Magazine, The Nation, and the Huffington Post. She lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews

[Nathan "N.R." Gaddis]

A text serving to found the current discourse on intersectionality. Taking the social position of the Black Female as illustrative paradigm for how intersectional thinking works, in the overlay of anti-racism and anti-sexism. The type of analysis is not new, but the discourse is made more precise and articulated.

Going beyond Crenshaw's text, two related thoughts ;

Questions of intersection of class and feminism is prominent in the work of both (anarchist) Emma Goldman and (communist) Alexandra Kollontai. For each, questions of class struggle predominated. In today's discourse I hear so very little about class.

Secondly, I'd submit as a question for intersectional thinking how to think of addiction as further complicating the kinds of questions raised by Crenshaw. Addicts and recovering addicts are a nearly invisible population group whose members belong to every other socio-economic group. Their lot is worse in so far as their addiction would seem to be always their own doing.

And my personal anecdote from the near end of my xian days :: I recall making the claim that if Jesus were to come again, he would come back as a Black Lesbian Single Mother. The least among us.



[link to the pdf ::
http://socialdifference.columbia.edu/...
Thank you to Friend Jonathan for digging this up]

[Vijeta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think Crenshaw was the first person to use the term "intersectionality". This article discusses how the anti-racist and the feminist movement often marginalizes women of colour. So, when you are discussing or trying to provide solutions for women of colour, it is not enough to just look at it from the point of view of anti-racism or feminism but a combination of both (and possible other lenses as well).

This has become incredibly relevant recently. Many feminist articles talk about "intersectionality" and then remove the race aspect from the discussion. It's important to learn why intersectionality was originally coined and continue to use it with race in mind.

[Yerutí Vázquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Indispensable lectura sobre el tan necesario concepto de "interseccionalidad". Sería imposible un estudio sociológico que se respete sin tener en cuenta que la identidad de una persona está compuesta de varios factores (género, raza, clase, etcétera), que en diferentes combinaciones otorgan diferentes niveles de privilegio, y que ese privilegio llega a determinar una estructura opresiva y prejuiciosa que minimiza los casos de violencia hacia aquellos individuos con menos privilegios.

[Sean Kingsley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mapping the Margins is an essay by the lawyer and, self-identified, Black Feminist Kimberlé Crenshaw which attempts to overturn the ideas set as status quo by such famous events such as the civil rights movement of the 60s in order to reinsert the value of such categories as racial and sex (as well as sexual later) into politics. In effect, Crenshaw is advocating for a new form of racism and sexism which she labels intersectionality.
I made many notes while reading this and while not uploading them here I think I have sufficiently proved to myself how Crenshaw disregards certain experiences and evidence when it suits her because it does not fit her narrative, the same thing that she ironically accuses anti-racist and feminist (aka "white feminist") movements of doing in regards to Black women ("Black" being capitalised by Crenshaw and "white" not throughout the essay).
An example I will give, because I feel myself personally affected, would be her framing of violence -- specifically sexual violence or "rape" -- against Black women, or other minority women, as the catalyst for the entire essay. This is useful for her and conveys the severity of her point because of it's inherently shocking nature and the graphic detail of examples she gives, but I almost wrote it off immediately because she cites a definition of rape which itself excludes men from being raped by women or a white person being raped by a black person or any other case where the institutional power of the victim is judged higher than that of the perpetrator, this is because Crenshaw sees it as only a political tool and not a horrific act in and of itself.
It is clear in that example specifically too where the postmodern ideas of Foucault comes in, as they will throughout the rest of the essay if you are familiar enough to identify them, which Crenshaw concludes the essay with a Hegelian/Alchemical dialectic analysis of to create intersectionality. The reason I highlight this is because it proves the claim often made that intersectionality has explicitly Marxist routes by using its own conclusion. But then again, anyone familiar with the writings of Marcuse would smell it from a mile away.
To conclude myself, although Crenshaw does make some very good points -- and some very bad points where she conflates certain categories such as race and language ability without clarifying why she feels she can do that let alone in the rigour that she does everything else -- the ideas and solutions offered by this essay have done more harm than good. Please read this if you have any interest in modern politics, especially that of identity.

[Oier Quincoces · Rating 3 out of 5]

El concepto de interseccionalidad me parece brutal y pienso que todo el mundo debería leer al respecto, pero este ensayo me ha resultado demasiado específico y bastante árido, en parte por el inglés y en parte por la gran cantidad de notas al pie y referencias al contexto estadounidense que desconozco. Tal vez estaba buscando algo más teórico y menos ejemplificado.

[P M · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really interesting and thought-provoking essay, and probably a tad provocative judging by the amount of bitter and hateful conservatives!

[Emily Sams-Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without question, this is one of/the most defining feminist texts, which everyone should read.

[Nagia Glt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crenshaw’s raw & real depiction of the sexism and racism faced by women of colour honestly made me forget this was an academic read

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this article Crenshaw focuses on domestic violence and rape as examples to illustrate the consequences of the intersectional discrimination of racism and sexism that women of Colour face. According to Crenshaw intersectionality is evident on three levels; structural, political, and representational. Structural intersectionality comprises debilitating conditions like lack of education, poverty, poor housing and job opportunities (due to discriminatory practices), child care responsibilities etc. that can leave woman of Colour unable to leave abusive relationships. Additionally, language barriers, fear of deportation, lack of access to resources and information on how to get help contribute to the problem. By political intersectionality Crenshaw means the failure of both feminism and antiracism to address intersections. Black women are not included in either political position, feminism is often racist, as is anti-racism often sexist. According to Crenshaw, Black women are more likely to be raped than Black men are likely to be falsely accused of rape and yet, the focus is mainly on the racism Black men face in this context. The rapists of Black women are less likely to be charged (regardless of their race) than the rapists of white women, and if they are charged after all their prison terms are substantially shorter. It is impressive how clear Crenshaw’s writing stays through it all – it would be entirely understandable for her to simply be screaming at the injustice of it all. Finally, representational intersectionality is about the cultural construction and images of women of Colour. Unfortunately, Crenshaw lost me here with the very detailed discussion of various trials, and mostly with the trial against 2 Live Crew. However, I do see the relevance of talking about the effects of misogynist representations of women in rap music and the harm that can be done with a culture of rape jokes – particularly if those jokes are uttered by the very persons who dominate those persons who the joke is about.

Next to providing a thorough account of the global situation in the US, Crenshaw tells rather personal stories of individual women which provide a welcome variation to the analysis of laws and trials. In summary, it was rather depressing and infuriating to read about all this injustice and inhumanity. If Crenshaw’s goal was to remain objective and neutral, she failed. However, if this text was meant to awaken sympathy for the painful injustice women of Colour have been and are still enduring, Crenshaw succeeded and gloriously so.

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

really great, very short read. I found this easy to digest. although some criticisms centre on how Kimberle Crenshaw limited herself to an intersection of only two identities, apparently ignoring the complexity that could be found in further intersections within the grouping of black women, I find the use of a single intersection to be important to the introduction to the topic of intersectionality. From this point, one can further investigate how intersectionality can help us to understand more complex intersections of oppression and privilege.

[Richard · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was brought to this from The New Discourses podcast with James Lindsey. I did find a PDF online, and skimmed through it for myself.

The argument made in here, is more or less self-serving for the author. Any legitimate claims from anecdotal cases are manipulated to promote activism for nefarious reasons.

[letalnosc]

pierwsza książka do licencjatu przeczytana. Myślę, że warto po nią sięgnąć z czystej ciekawości i chęci dowiedzenia się czegoś więcej na temat intersekcjonalności w różnych kontekstach oraz wykluczania women of color z feministycznych dyskusji

[Waris Ahmad Faizi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Profound!

The offers a groundbreaking analysis of intersectionality, shedding light on the unique challenges faced by women of color in the context of identity politics and systemic violence. A must-read for understanding structural inequalities.

[marissa]

for school

[ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

actually pretty interesting considering it was a SUPA reading

[Ana Silvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Increíble estudio de varios casos donde llegamos a una increíble conclusión. Gracias Kimberlé por tu maestría en estudios de género, antirracistas y de abogacía.

[Samy Sanzana · Rating 4 out of 5]

me siento más inteligente después de leer esto

[ngọc ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This project attempts to unveil the processes of subordination and the various ways those processes are experienced by people who are subordinated and people who are privileged. It is, then, a project that presumes that categories have meaning and consequences. This project's most pressing problem, in many, if not most cases, is not the existence of the categories, but rather the particular values attached to them, and the way those values foster and create social hierarchies.

Essential reading. I don't have much to say except that I wish more people would read Crenshaw—the one who coined the term "intersectionality"—before using it since this has got to be one of the most misused terms on the internet at this point.

[Amanda Chiu · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion one of the most influential works of contemporary feminist discourse and an essential read for anyone interested in learning about intersectionality. It’s masterful and well-known for good reason.