Mojab, S., & Carpenter, S. (2019)
Introduction
Authors: Shahrzad Mojab, Sara Carpenter
Institutions:
Equity Studies, New College, University of Toronto, Canada
Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada
Department of Educational Policy Studies, Faculty of Education, University of Alberta, Canada
Purpose of the Article: To examine intersectionality from the perspective of Marxist feminism.
Key Concepts
Intersectionality:
Emerged from Black feminist activism in the 1970s.
Explains the organization of human life across various axes of identity: race, gender, sexuality, class, ability, etc.
Aims to address how political projects respond to these interwoven social constructs.
Marxist Feminism:
Approaches intersectionality through a historical materialist dialectical framework.
Views race, gender, and class as intertwined with the capitalist mode of production, resisting the trivialization of class.
Historical Context
Development of Intersectionality:
Initially articulated by Black feminists to express the experiences of Black women amid various oppressions.
Key figures include Barbara Smith, Patricia Hill Collins, and the Combahee River Collective.
Expanded by Kimberlé Crenshaw who linked race and gender to issues of violence and poverty.
Contemporary Relevance:
Intersectionality has gained traction in various fields including anti-racist education, cultural studies, and feminist studies.
Used by activists and scholars to address social differences, with claims of radical inclusion.
Critiques of Intersectionality
Co-option of Feminist Concepts:
Concepts like "empowerment" and "equality" have been appropriated by liberal agendas.
Encourages questioning why these concepts, often perceived as radical, can perpetuate existing conditions.
Limitations:
Two processes have hindered the potential of intersectionality:
The retreat from Marxism weakened class analysis under capitalist patriarchy.
A shift in focus to social differences sidelined comprehensive class considerations.
Dialectical Understanding of Social Relations
Definition of Social Relations:
Viewed as historically evolving forms of organization influenced by human activity and modes of consciousness.
Social relations consist of multiple, interconnected phenomena.
Marxist Framework:
Rejects the notion of social reality as static structures; instead, it perceives them as dynamic and evolving through human agency.
Investigates historical modes of production that entail both productive forces (human labor) and relations of production (organization of labor).
Concept of Mode of Production
Capitalist Mode of Production:
Characterized by wage relations and the dependence on commodity production.
Emphasizes extraction of surplus value as central to capitalist aims.
Race, gender, and class relations evolve alongside capitalism, integral to its expansion.
Theoretical Implications
Marxist Feminist Understanding of Difference:
Explores how constructs of difference (race, gender) operate in the context of capitalist production.
Differences are not isolated but interconnected, affecting lived experiences.
Critique of Mainstream Feminist Theories:
Modernist feminisms often universalize "woman," ignoring intersectional nuances.
Postmodern perspectives may focus only on representation without addressing material realities.
Proposes a blend of structured materialism and historical understanding for inclusivity in feminist discourse.
Conclusion
Call for Dialectical Conceptualization:
Emphasizes understanding social relations not as separate entities but as interlinked through the capitalist framework.
Advocates for evolving a critique of intersectionality into a dialectical understanding of exploitation and oppression to advance feminist and anti-racist movements.