Intersectional Justice: An Overview

For centuries, racialized peoples have been fighting to be treated fairly, equitably and with humanity.

What does it mean to be categorized and labeled according to your disability, race, gender, sexuality, economic background, the way you think or understand the world?

What if these labels stick? 

How do you fight labels you don't feel are fair or accurate or you just don't want to be labelled?

We can fight back. 

Similar to social justice, intersectional justice is concerned with dismantling systems that unfairly create and uphold social, political, legal and economic imbalances. Intersectional Justice (IJ) goes one step further to consider people who have been classified and labelled in multiple ways (race, "ability", language, sexuality, gender, ethnicity, etc.). 

Thanks to Kimberle Crenshaw, we understand that some categories meet others like streets do, at intersections. "Intersectionality" is a way to talk about the ways in which being pushed into one social category or another, complicates who we are, how we're perceived in society.

Black and racialized youth with and without intellectual dis/abilities are often categorized not only according to race and culture, but also according to other categories (like gender, sexuality, ethnicity, etc.) that push people to the margins of society. .

Intersectional Justice is one way to resist the status quo.

Intersectional Justice resists multi-marginalizing social categories. Resistance involves confronting, challenging, defying and even re-claiming multi-layered labels.

IJR 

Distinct from social justice research, Intersectional Justice Research (IJR)  is (typically community-based research) that aims to disrupt multi-marginalizing social categories like race, ability, language, sexuality, ethnicity, etc., to resist and reject the systemic oppression that presents as the status quo.  

The following list of IJR resources is not exhaustive, but it's a great place to start!

INTERSECTIONALITY

Cho, S., Crenshaw, K. W., & McCall, L. (2013). Toward a field of intersectionality studies: Theory, applications, and praxis. Signs: Journal of women in culture and society, 38(4), 785-810. 

IJ in EDUCATION

Cochran-Smith, M. (2020). Teacher education for justice and equity: 40 years of advocacy. Action in teacher education, 42(1), 49-59.

Love, H. R., & Beneke, M. R. (2021). Pursuing justice-driven inclusive education research: Disability critical race theory (DisCrit) in early childhood. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 41(1), 31-44.
 

Calp, Ş. (2020). Peaceful and happy schools: how to build positive learning environments?. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 12(4), 311-320.
 

Parekh, G. (2023). Ableism in education: Rethinking school practices and policies. Routledge. 

ENVIRONMENTALISM THROUGH an IJ LENS

Amster, R., & Kato, Y. (2018). Engaging Narratives: Environmental Essentialism and Intersectional Justice. Undergraduate Journal of Global Citizenship, 2(3), 5.

Goodling, E. (2020). Intersecting hazards, intersectional identities: A baseline Critical Environmental Justice analysis of US homelessness. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 3(3), 833-856. 

Carfore, K. (2021). Ecofeminist Theology: Intersectional Justice and Plumwood’s Philosophical Animism. Feminist Theology, 29(3), 234-246.

IJ APPROACHES to HEALTHCARE 

Baugh, A., & Thakur, N. (2023). Race, Racism, and Respiratory Health. Clinics in Chest Medicine, 44(3), 469-478. 

Borras, A. M. (2021). Toward an Intersectional Approach to Health Justice. International Journal of Health Services, 51(2), 206-225. 

Edyburn, K. L., Bertone, A., Raines, T. C., Hinton, T., Twyford, J., & Dowdy, E. (2023). Integrating intersectionality, social determinants of health, and healing: A new training framework for school-based mental health. School Psychology Review, 52(5), 563-585. 

Kulesza, M., Matsuda, M., Ramirez, J. J., Werntz, A. J., Teachman, B. A., & Lindgren, K. P. (2016). Towards greater understanding of addiction stigma: Intersectionality with race/ethnicity and gender. Drug and alcohol dependence, 169, 85-91. 

Semlyen, J., Ali, A., & Flowers, P. (2018). Intersectional identities and dilemmas in interactions with healthcare professionals: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of British Muslim gay men. Culture, health & sexuality, 20(9), 1023-1035. 

IJ in DIS/ABILITY RESEARCH

Cascio, M. A., Weiss, J. A., & Racine, E. (2020). Making autism research inclusive by attending to intersectionality: a review of the research ethics literature. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 7. 

Gibson, A. N., & Hanson-Baldauf, D. (2019). Beyond sensory story time: An intersectional analysis of information seeking among parents of autistic individuals. Library Trends, 67(3), 550-575. 

Goldsmith, L., & Bell, M. L. (2022). Queering environmental justice: unequal environmental health burden on the LGBTQ+ community. American Journal of Public Health, 112(1), 79-87.

Oswald, A. G., Avory, S., & Fine, M. (2021). Intersectional expansiveness borne at the neuroqueer nexus. Psychology & Sexuality, 1-12.