Interlocking, Intersecting, and Intermeshing

Critical Engagements with Black and Latina Feminist Paradigms of Identity and Oppression

Bibliographic Data

ID18955422
AuthorsKathryn Sophia Belle (Pennsylvania State University, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume8
Issue1-2
Pages165-198
Publication date2020-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCritical Philosophy of Race (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2165-8684 • E-ISSN: 2165-8692
PublisherThe Pennsylvania State University Press (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.5325/critphilrace.8.1-2.0165
OpenAlexW3004525201
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited18

Inspired by Mariana Ortega's invitation to reflect on diverse iterations of intersectionality, this article focuses on María Lugones's engagements with two Black feminist concepts, namely, interlocking oppressions (as articulated by Barbara Smith, Beverley Smith, and Demita Frazier) and intersectionality (as articulated by Kimberlé Crenshaw). It explores these concepts alongside Lugones's use of her own terms such as intermeshed, curdling, multiplicity, and fusion, in several paradigm shifting essays, specifically, “Purity, Impurity, and Separation” (1994 and 2003), “Tactical Strategies of the Street Walker” (2003), “On Complex Communication” (2006), “Heterosexism and the Colonial/Modern Gender System” (2007), “Toward a Decolonial Feminism” (2010), “Methodological Notes Toward a Decolonial Feminism” (2011), and “Radical Multiculturalism and Women of Color Feminisms” (2014). It also underscores Ortega's important contributions bringing these Black and Latina feminist concepts together in philosophically productive ways—in a spirit of collaboration and coalition rather than zero-sum competition

Aesthetics · Art · Identity (music) · Oppression · Political science · Sociology · Critical Race Theory in Education · Gender Studies · Latin American and Latino Studies · Law · Race, History, and American Society