Research

Dissertation Project

Pressed to understand the demands of the Movement for Black Lives, the term “intersectionality” was launched into the academic and public lexicon. However, this term became both overused and largely misunderstood. For example, many have adopted the term “intersectional feminist”. This is a fundamental misunderstanding in that intersectionality is not an identity marker, but an analytical lens. Thirty years ago, lawyer and civil rights advocate Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw was credited with coining this term to be utilized as a descriptive tool that would give scholars the ability to envision the mechanisms by which multiple systems of domination may enact harm on individuals in a particularly violent way.  In this study, I propose that by discerning how contemporary Black-led social movements operationalize intersectionality, scholars stand to gain an understanding of the manner in which these mobilizations navigate political organization. Considering the need to understand the missing pieces of race-based social movement theories, I contribute an analysis of the ways in which particular political praxes influence how Black-led social movements in the U.S. navigate the political arena and then decide how and when to organize. I propose that the operationalization of intersectionality via Black Queer Feminism may be a distinct and notable feature of contemporary Black-led social movements in the United States. This paper contributes to the larger question of the role groups play in social movements by examining the practical and ideological characteristics of these movements. As such, I pose the questions: What is Black Queer Feminism and how do Black-led social movements use this praxis to shape U.S. political institutions? Though some scholars have become taken up by this framework, it is under-theorized and its potential cannot be fully realized until it is fully defined. Additionally, how might Black Queer Feminist politics of accountability begin to shape the U.S. carceral state and conceptions of criminality?  I will conduct an ethnographic study comprised of in-depth interviews and first person participant-observation of activist organizations that utilize the Black Queer Feminist praxis.