SSJ 31119 - Intersectional Justice Movements

All these justice movements intersect with and can leverage one another in their pursuits (i.e., the pursuit of food justice has a direct link with gender justice and land justice). Not only that, but activists and scholars working within these movements take an intersectional approach to solving the complex global challenges they imply. 

All these justice movements consider how social markers of one’s identity including but not limited to race, age, gender, socio-economic class, caste, locality (rural/urban), marital status, and sexuality intersect to create ‘compounding’ systems of oppression, which in turn influences the ability to access resources, decision-making spaces, opportunity, and how one experiences the effects of climate change.

Intersectionality is an analytical strategy used to understand how axes of social difference influence a person’s life chances and/or the well-being of a community. Intersectional analysis entails close examination of how dominant society privileges particular identity markers over others as well as realizing that an individual themselves might consider one of their identities to be more relevant than another at a particular moment in time or in a particular circumstance.  Being sensitive to how identities intersect and asking questions about how axes of difference work together as a system of oppression is a skill needed to amplify silenced voices, to deliver goods and services to marginalized persons and communities, and to document the differential effects of policies and programs.

In this class, you will start to hone the intersectional analysis skills necessary for a range of jobs in public policy, NGO and non-profit programming, and advocacy. Class readings will deepen your understanding of what intersectional analysis looks like and its analytical power to understand social life and the reproduction of inequality and oppression.

Formerly IDCE 31119. Students who have already passed IDCE 31119 cannot receive credit for SSJ 31119 and should not take this course. 

Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every Spring