UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA WGS 498/GSJ 598

Intersectional Research Methodologies

Module 1 – REFLECTION

We began this introductory module, by describing the background for this course on intersectional methodologies and its origin at the University of Alberta, locating it within a strategic institutional initiative to mainstream intersectional approaches to research and knowledge production well beyond women’s and gender studies. Intersections of Gender and the new Institute for Intersectionality Studies aim to promote intersectional approaches across all fields and disciplines.

We also discussed and differentiated methodology from method, epistemology and paradigm. Then we turned to an example to show how intersectionality as a framework, lens, or paradigm considers the complex causalities between different categories of difference or differentiation and between individual and structural factors.

We also established that intersectionality is a paradigm or analytic sensibility that is not limited to any specific topic area, for example, the study of BIPoC women or black youth or marginalized groups. Instead, scholarship and research might be informed by key assumptions of intersectionality but not call it self intersectional. Similar, we might also find that work is described as intersectional but does not or only partially correspond to the key assumptions Hancock laid out.

REFLECT

  1. Where and how have you encountered intersectionality so far in your studies, research, or discipline?
  2. How does your understanding of intersectionality correspond with intersectionality’s key assumptions Hancock laid out?
  3. Which of the six normative assumptions Hancock discusses have shaped your research or the scholarship you are familiar with in your field of study or research?
  4. How would your research change, benefit, or be challenged if you were working with any or all of these six key assumptions?

References:

Ainsworth, Claire. 2018. “Sex Redefined: The Idea of 2 Sexes Is Overly Simplistic.” Scientific American, October 22, 2018. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sex-redefined-the-idea-of-2-sexes-is-overly-simplistic1/. 

Butler, Judith. 2011. “Butler – Gender Performance.” Youtube. Video, 03:00. profmcgowan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fndkPPJBi1U. 

Cho, Sumi, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and Leslie McCall. 2013. “Toward a Field of Intersectionality Studies: Theory, Applications, and Praxis.” Signs 38, no. 4 (Summer): 785-810. https://doi.org/10.1086/669608.

Coaston, Jane. 2019. “Intersectionality, explained: meet Kimberlé Crenshaw, who coined the term.” Vox. https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/20/18542843/intersectionality-conservatism-law-race-gender-discrimination.

Crenshaw, Kimberle. 1989. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics.” University of Chicago Legal Forum 1989 (1): 139-167.

Davis, Kathy. 2008. “Intersectionality as buzzword: A sociology of science perspective on what makes a feminist theory successful.” Feminist Theory 9 (1): 67-85. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464700108086364.

Garland-Thompson, Rosemarie. 2002. “Integrating Disability, Transforming Feminist Theory.” NWSA Journal 14 (3): 1-32.

Glaser, Eliane. 2019. “Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez – a world designed for men.” The Guardian, February 28, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/28/invisible-women-by-caroline-criado-perez-review. 

Hall, Stuart. 2006. “Race, The Floating Signifier: Featuring Stuart Hall.” YouTube. Video, 05:05. ChallengingMedia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMo2uiRAf30. 

Hancock, Ange-Marie. 2004. The Politics of Disgust: The Public Identity of the Welfare Queen. New York: New York University Press.

Hancock, Ange-Marie. 2007. “Intersectionality as a Normative and Empirical Paradigm.” Politics & Gender 3 (2): 248-254. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X07000062.

Hancock, Ange-Marie. 2011. Solidarity Politics for Millennials: A Guide to Ending the Oppression Olympics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230120136.

Hancock, Ange-Marie. 2016. Intersectionality: An Intellectual History. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199370368.001.0001.

Hesse-Biber, Sharlene N., and Patricia L. Leavy. 2007. Feminist Research Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412984270.

Katz, Jonathan N. 1990. “The Invention of Heterosexuality.” Socialist Review 20, no. 1 (Jan-Mar): 7-34.

Lorde, Audre. 2007. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (Crossing Press Feminist Series). N.p.: Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed.

Luhmann, Susanne. 2019. “Consider This: Intersectional Gender Research Matters.” University of Alberta | The Quad, March 28, 2019. https://www.ualberta.ca/the-quad/2019/03/consider-this-intersectional-gender-research-matters.html?utm_source=redir&utm_medium=redir&utm_campaign=redir&utm_content=redir-blog.ualberta.ca. 

McCall, Leslie. 2005. “The Complexity of Intersectionality.” Signs 30 (3): 1771–1800. https://doi.org/10.1086/426800.

Perez, Caroline C. 2019. Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men. N.p.: Abrams Press.

Somerville, 2000

“Speech from the Throne: The 4 Pillars.” 2020. Gary Anandasangaree. https://garyanandasangaree.libparl.ca/2020/09/23/speech-from-the-throne-the-4-pillars/.

“The Kamala Harris Project.” n.d. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/TheKamalaHarrisProject.

Waxman, Olivia B. 2023. “Florida Bill Would Enforce Sweeping Bans at Universities.” Time, February 25, 2023. https://time.com/6258304/florida-bill-ban-dei-crt-universities/. 

West, Candace, and Don H. Zimmerman. 1987. “Doing Gender.” Gender & Society 1 (2): 125-151. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243287001002002.

Woods, Mel. 2020. “Jason Kenney On Throne Speech: Intersectionality A ‘Kooky Academic Theory.’” Huffpost, September 24, 2020. https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/jason-kenney-intersectionality-throne-speech_ca_5f6d1f22c5b64deddeeb2130