STANDING STILL:
INTERSECTIONAL WORK AS
SOCIAL JUSTICE
JESSICA JENNRICH,
DIRECTOR, WOMEN’S CENTER
M A R L E N E K O WA L S K I - B R A U N
A S S I S TA N T V I C E P R O VO S T F O R
S T U D E N T A F FA I R S
G R A N D VA L L E Y S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Expand frameworks for thinking about this work
Articulate an intersectional paradigm
Discuss how to engage in coalition work
Explore risks and benefits
Slow down: Apply what we have learned
FRAMEWORKS FOR OUR TIME TOGETHER
Acknowledge alternative positionalities
Share honestly (what we share here stays here)
Generosity matters
Question or comment – say so!
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
U.S. colleges historically served economically privileged, White, young men
1960’S and 70’s

Shifts in student representation and student activism required campuses to
implement a broad range

of initiatives

Leads to the creation of Black Cultural Centers, Minority Student Services,
Women’s Centers

Students have largely been the leaders for change
Institutional norms and policies on campus have not changed in wholesale; the
academy still reflects the nation’s bigotry and oppression
Source: Multicultural Student Services
on Campus, Edited by Dafina Lazarus
Stewart
EXPANDING OUR FRAMEWORKS:
IDENTITY, SOCIAL JUSTICE AND
INTERSECTIONALITY
Identity
Social
Justice
Intersectional
Feminist Conceptualizations of Intersectionality
• Grew out of Black feminist scholarship
• Sojourner Truth, “Aint’ I a Woman?”, 1851
• Combahee River Collective Statement, 1977
• Patricia Hill Collins, 1990
• Kimberly Crenshaw, 1994
• Gloria Anzaldua, 1999
Feminist Conceptualizations (Cont.)
Audre Lorde: “There is No Hierarchy of Oppression”
•“As a Black, lesbian, feminist, socialist, poet, mother of two
including a boy and a member of an interracial couple, I
usually find myself a part of some group in which the
majority defines me as deviant, difficult, inferior, or just
plain ‘wrong’”
•“Within the lesbian community I am Black, and within the
Black community I am a lesbian. Any attack against Black
people is a lesbian and gay issue, because I and thousands
of other Black women are a part of the lesbian community.
Any attack against lesbians and gays is a Black issue,
because thousands of lesbians and gay men are Black.
There is no hierarchy of oppression.”
APPLYING INTERSECTIONALITY
Network
• Intertwined
communities of action.
• Often determined
according to structure
and historical factors.
• Will persist long after
people leave.
• Good networks have
good coalition building.
Coalition
• Often temporary or
transient in terms of
members.
• Characterized by a
group of individuals
coming together for a
couple of hours at a
time or for a common
goal(s).
• Coalitions are the
building blocks for
strong networks.
Alliance
• Collaborative
partnership among
networks with
advanced loyalty
expectations.
• This requires a
widening of
perspectives – of ALL
of us!
• Aspire to be this – goal
of coalition and
networks.
PRACTICE IN AN INTERSECTIONAL PARADIGM
Engage in radical
thinking by
rejecting additive
approaches to
oppression that
essentialize
identity.
Advocate in a
more complex,
system-based
way.
Focus on root
causes of
problems rather
than on surface
level issues.
What are the
benefits/challenges to
doing intersectional
work....
Comments
Questions
Reactions
Thank you!