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School for Cross-faculty Studies Liberal Arts

IP280/IP380 Intersectionality and Power

Module Overview

During the summer of 2020, Black Lives Matter protests were held around the globe. Following an intersectional praxis, the Black Lives Matter Movement denounced the long-lived perpetuation of structural racism and the postracial rhetoric claiming with disdain that present-day racism is more “subtle.” Inspired by Kimberlé Crenshaw’s definition of intersectionality, Black activists publicly stressed how Black trans people with disabilities are systematically disregarded and targeted within social justice movements. Some politicians, media and corporations publicly proclaimed that “silence was not an option anymore” and made public statements about their commitment to “do better”. Yet, it soon became obvious that institutions simply continued upholding their status quo, refusing to speak of reparations or to follow an intersectional framework.

What makes structural violence so pervasive and enduring? What are the key ideas of race, gender, sexuality and disability affecting the division of power and wealth today? How have these ideas infiltrated media representation, medical disparities, educational systems, beauty standards, environmental policy, public memory and carceral landscapes? How can liberal arts affirm the full personhood of intersectional identities?

This module examines the recent history of ideas of intersectional oppression, paying close attention to how long-standing hateful discourses influence power and institutions today. Our conversations will consistently study impactful concepts and scholarship about the distribution of power and the intersections of race, gender, sexuality and disability, engaging with major interdisciplinary debates across the humanities, natural sciences and social sciences. We will trace the historical reverberations of institutional violence in media representation, educational systems, wealth gaps, exploitative tourism, policy making, legal frameworks and global health disparities. We will lastly reflect about the links between intersectionality and interdisciplinarity, exploring the significance of reparations and radical imagination in liberal arts.

Module aims:

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

  • recognise main historical and current discourses about the intersections of race, gender, sexuality and disability
  • understand repercussions of contemporary legacies of the global history of intersectional oppression
  • apply intersectional theory to the critical analysis of primary sources and case studies related to intersections of race, gender, sexuality and disability
  • consider ethical responsibilities of intersectional research approaches
  • engage in meaningful reflection on module themes, such as intersectionality, reparative justice, institutional oppression and interdisciplinarity
  • conduct interdisciplinary research through an intersectional lens

Module Leader:

Dr Dannelle Gutarra Cordero

Optional module

Term 1 | 10 weeks

15 CATS

2 hour workshop per week


Available to Year 2 and Year 3 students in the School for Cross-Faculty Studies, and Year 2 and Year 3 external students.

Please note: Module availability and staffing may change year on year depending on availability and other operational factors. The School for Cross-Faculty Studies makes no guarantee that any modules will be offered in a particular year, or that they will necessarily be taught by the staff listed on these pages

Indicative topics:

Following a decolonising framework, the module will change based on current events and student input. A tentative syllabus might include the following topics:

  • Tourism, Appropriation and Exploitation
  • Scientific Racism and Global Health, Then and Now
  • Carcerality, Social Welfare and Black Trans Activism
  • Race, Sex, Performance and Orientalism in Media
  • Environmental Racism, Climate Change and Indigenous Advocacy
  • Eugenics, Intelligence and Education Policy
  • The Politics of Skin Tone, Childhood and Beauty
  • Public Memory, Representation and the Literary Canon
  • The Black Lives Matter Movement and the COVID-19 Pandemic
Assessments:

There are three assessments on this module:

Assessment Weighting Description
Close Reading Exercise 35% critical analysis of primary sources
Research Project 50% independent research project engaging critically with primary, secondary, and theoretical sources
Reparative Reflection 15% written or audiovisual reflection on how the module has empowered consideration of intersectional oppression and reparative justice through critical lenses

Illustrative reading list:

  • Alsultany, Evelyn. 2012. Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race and Representation after 9/11. New York: New York University Press.
  • Benjamin, Ruha. 2019. Race after Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code. Cambridge: Polity.
  • Cooper Owens, Deidre. 2017. Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology. Athens: University of Georgia Press.
  • Davis, Angela Y. 2011. Are Prisons Obsolete? New York: Seven Stories.
  • Erigha, Maryann. 2019. The Hollywood Jim Crow: The Racial Politics of the Movie Industry. New York: New York University Press.
  • Foucault, Michel. 2003. “17 March 1976.” In Society Must Be Defended: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975-76. Edited by Mauro Bertani & Alessandro Fontana. New York: Picador.
  • Hernández, Tanya Katerí. 2013. Racial Subordination in Latin America: The Role of the State, Customary Law, and the New Civil Rights Response. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • hooks, bell. 1996. Reel to Real: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies. New York: Routledge.
  • hooks, bell. 2014. Black Looks: Race and Representation. New York: Routledge.
  • Hua, Wen. 2013. Buying Beauty: Cosmetic Surgery in China. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
  • Jarrín, Álvaro. 2017. The Biopolitics of Beauty: Cosmetic Citizenship and Affective Capital in Brazil. Oakland: University of California Press.
  • Joseph, Ralina L. 2013. Transcending Blackness: From the New Millennium Mulatta to the Exceptional Multiracial. Durham: Duke University Press.
  • Jung, Sun. 2011. Korean Masculinities and Transcultural Consumption. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
  • Lorde, Audre. 2007. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. New York: Random House.
  • Mbembe, Achille. 2001. On the Postcolony. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Morning, Ann Juanita. 2011. The Nature of Race: How Scientists Think and Teach about Human Difference. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Muhammad, Khalil Gibran. 2010. The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
  • Painter, Nell Irvin. 2010. The History of White People. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
  • Peña Ovalle, Priscilla. 2010. Dance and the Hollywood Latina: Race, Sex, and Stardom. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
  • Roberts, Dorothy. 2011. Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Recreate Race in the Twentieth Century. New York: The New Press.
  • Roberts, Dorothy. 2016. Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty. New York: Random House.
  • Strings, Sabrina. 2019. Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia. New York: New York University Press.
  • Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta. 2016. From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation. Chicago: Haymarket Books.
  • Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. 1995. Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History. Boston: Beacon Press.