CROSSROADS: Intersectionality in Feminist Research, Policy and Practice
 
The concept of intersectionality describes the serious limitations of one-dimensional accounts of discrimination, inequality and disadvantage.
 
As feminist movements take on new energies in 2021, we revisit how well the concept serves us in building more self-critical and inclusive approaches. Our series presents conversations amongst leading researchers, policy makers and political actors, with the aim of better understanding what intersectionality should mean in practice. We also explore the complex genealogy of the idea and its applications in the spheres of technology, education and research.
 
First in a series of six conversations on this theme, our opening Public Forum featured an outstanding line-up of speakers:
  • Senator Mehreen Faruqi
  • Professor Raewyn Connell
  • Srilatha Batliwala
  • Celeste Liddle
Chaired by Professor Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt
 

Event date: 8 October 2021 | Recording

 

The second webinar of the series examined whether governments have the will, incentive and capacity to address deeply embedded systemic inequalities and advance intersectional equalities and what intersectional approaches have to offer in terms of achieving a more equal future.
 
Speakers:
  • Sheena Graham
  • Melanie Poole
  • Dr Siobhan McDonnell
  • Dr Anu Mundkur 
Chaired by Honorary Associate Professor Sally Moyle
 

Event date: 14 October 2021 | Recording

 

This webinar asks: Who is intersectional and how are intersectional inequalities experienced in different locations and contexts? How do subaltern, decolonised or postcolonial perspectives converse with intersectionality? Does intersectionality change our understandings of everyday politics of gender and power, and address different ways of approaching feminism? Finally, it asks, how does an understanding of intersectionality allow us to imagine feminist solidarities in a globalised world?
 
Speakers:
  • Dr Reshmi Roy 
  • Dr Maree Martinussen
  • Dr Nilmini Fernando 
  • Dr Romy Listo 
  • Ms Imogen Carr 
Chaired by Professor Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt
 

Event date: 21 October 2021 | Recording

 

This session focuses on how the notion of ‘intersectionality’ emerged in feminist theory and practice within social movements, where and when it was named, and how it has travelled not just geographically but through the diverse sites of feminist thinking and action. It ponders the consequences of Kimberlé Crenshaw addressing the specific situation of black women in the United States of America through a legal lens. Critical analyses of intersectionality by Patricia Hill Collins, Sirma Bilge, Jennifer Nash and Jasbir Puar in North America and Nira Yuval-Davis in Britain are highlighted.
 
Speakers:
  • Professor Sirma Bilge
  • Professor Kathryn Henne
  • Dr Salmah Eva-Lina Lawrence
  • Professor Emeritus Nira Yuval-Davis
Chaired by Emerita Professor Margaret Jolly
 
Event date: 28 October 2021 | Recording