Is it all Intersectional? Conceptualizing the Relation of Racism and Sexism

Presented by Ina Kerner
One of the basic starting points of current intersectional analyses has been the attempt to replace both simplifying analogies between different forms of oppression and additive models of differing forms of inequality and subordination. While this conceptual shift has been very valuable for correcting the shortcomings of those former approaches as well as for developing more complex and inclusive ways of understanding the relation of various forms of inequality, it sometimes seems that intersectionality is held to be the new master category for every attempt to clarify this relation. Focusing on racism and sexism, Ina Kerner argues that for understanding the ways in which both relate, relying on concepts of intersectionality is not sufficient. Instead, she suggests a multi-dimensional approach that takes similarities, differences, links and connections as well as intersections into account.
Ina Kerner is an Assistant Professor for diversity politics in the Department of Social Sciences at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Before, she has held positions in political theory at Freie Universität Berlin and in gender studies at Technische Universität Berlin and thought at the New School for Social Research in New York. Her areas of research include feminist and gender theories, postcolonial studies as well as questions of diversity and intersectionality. In 2009, her book on the anatomy of racism and sexism came out; an introductory book on postcolonial theories is forthcoming.