2019 Gensler Family Symposium: Provincializing Intersectionality

Erin Durban, Dept of Anthropology at the University of Minnesota

In this talk, Durban explores the relationship between two central analytical frameworks in contemporary feminist studies: “intersectionality” and “transnational feminisms.” These frameworks are listed side-by-side in feminist studies curriculum documents, job ads, and—less often—scholarship. The “and” in these listings tethers intersectionality and transnational feminisms together in the vision of a robust interdisciplinary feminist studies interested in dynamic understandings of gender and social power, yet the “and” also separates them as distinct domains of inquiry. This talk takes up the genealogies of both frameworks and the institutional and bordering practices that keep the “and” in place with the question in mind: Can those of us in feminist studies imagine an intersectional, transnational feminist framework or a transnational intersectionality?