Marxism and Intersectionality

This talk argues that the rise of intersectionality, the concept that different forms of identity-based oppression are often simultaneous and mutually constituted, creates an important contemporary opening for the Marxist, historical-materialist analysis of oppression. Intersectionality originated in the concrete struggles of black women to challenge existing institutions (like the law) and activist coalitions that had previously erased their particular experiences. While postmodernists have taken up intersectionality in ways that often obscure the historic origins of oppression, Marxism provides a framework for not only seeing how oppressions intersect, but how the history of capitalism has produced and changed these intersections throughout time.