Relations of difference: Power and inequality in intersectional and postcolonial feminist theories

Abstract

Feminist theory has addressed relations of difference, heterogeneity, and hierarchy within gender groups as well as the entanglement of various forms of differentiation, power, and inequality for a long time. This does not mean that there was unanimity with regard to the best way of doing this, though. Today, we can distinguish different approaches in this regard, and there is contestation about both the analytical and the political advantages and pitfalls of each of them. This article concentrates on two of these approaches: on the one hand on intersectional ones, which strongly focus on inequality; and on the other hand on postcolonial feminist theories, which put the emphasis on global power relations and interactions. The article discusses select positions of both intersectional and postcolonial feminist theories in conjunction, and argues why and how they should be conceptualized as complementary.

Postcolonial theories as global critical theories

“…For a discussion of intersectionality in decolonial theories, see Kerner (2013). For my take on the relation of postcolonial feminism and intersectionality in a more general sense, see Kerner (2017). 12 For an overview, see Ling (2002), Persram (2007), Reuter and Villa (2010), Gutiérrez Rodríguez, Costa and Boatcȃ (2010), Seth (2013b) and Ziai (2016); for US political science, Bruyneel (2007).…”

“…For a discussion of intersectionality in decolonial theories, see Kerner (). For my take on the relation of postcolonial feminism and intersectionality in a more general sense, see Kerner ().…”

O pensamento feminista “amefricano” e a ideia de articulação entre gênero, classe, raça e sexualidade: Ferramentas de análise para a história das sociedades americanas

“…Autoras ligadas a diferentes campos do feminismo afirmam que a interseccionalidade se tornou um hit concept ou um conceito mainstream, principalmente nos meios acadêmicos norte-americano e europeu, atingindo franco sucesso a partir dos anos 2000 (PISCITELLI, 2008;CARBIN;EDENHEIM, 2013;HIRATA, 2014;KERNER, 2016). No Brasil, o termo vem crescendo cada vez mais, ocupando prateleiras em livrarias (AKOTIRENE, 2018; ABREU; HIRATA; LOMBARDI, 2016) e figurando em cursos de pósgraduação e eventos acadêmicos.…”

“…Ina Kerner (2016) também identifica uma mudança de caráter na interseccionalidade na medida em que foi ganhando espaço nos meios acadêmicos, deslocando-se das margens dos estudos feministas para seu centro. Segundo ela, o termo tem cada vez mais transcendido a orientação dada por sua origem, ligada às mulheres negras e "de cor", e se expandido como mecanismo de interpretação de questões variadas (para pensar abstratamente relações entre categorias de desigualdade, por exemplo) (KERNER, 2016).…”

Intersectionality and its journeys: from counterhegemonic feminist theories to law of european multilevel democracy

“…Law is regarded here in its double component of reaction to injustice (case-law) and proaction to prevent it (legislation). The article is structured into three main parts i) tracing a genealogy from counterhegemonic feminist theories, ii) showing how intersectionality was shaped as a critical legal concept in 6 Such popularity has a downside too, which is delinking intersectionality from black women's subjectivities and radical social critique and movements that initially promoted such a perspective (Carastathis, 2013;Bilge, 2013;Kerner, 2016).…”