Navigating the intersectional imagination: Race, sexuality, and power.
Item
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Title
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Navigating the intersectional imagination: Race, sexuality, and power.
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Identifier
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AAI3311220
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identifier
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3311220
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Creator
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Pastrana, Antonio, Jr.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Juan Battle
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Date
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2008
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies
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Abstract
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The intersectional imagination is a term used to describe the analytic process that occurs when examining individual- and group-level oppressions based on identity. Starting with an understanding that individuals and groups are more than the sum of their parts, that each individual characteristic or constituent has the capacity to affect different outcomes, the intersectional imagination attempts to describe the ways that identities come together and are pulled apart. Put differently, the intersectional imagination is about acknowledging the different ways that identities can be looked upon as conduits and/or barriers in various settings. Social movement scholarship has revealed that identity management, in general, is an understudied facet in this field. This dissertation asks: How do lesbian and gay (L&G) leaders of color manage their personal intersectional politics and how does this affect or influence their work within the larger field of L&G social movement organizing?;The data for this dissertation were collected via two primary methods of social scientific inquiry: the in-depth interview and the focus group interview. In-depth interviews (n=7) and four focus group sessions were conducted with non-White lesbian and gay leaders (n=48) in order to understand how intersectional politics are organized on personal and collective levels.;In sum, organizing intersectional politics calls for an articulation of the ways in which identities are constraining and/or enabling. Findings reveal that the study of intersectionality can be extended to encompass lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations and that intersectionality is a vibrant force in the leadership of this group's social movement. In placing their own racial identity at the center, research participants talked about how experiences of racism, homophobia, and discrimination within LGBT populations and within their own respective racial group affected their identities and their activism. Participants also talked about how their racial identities contributed to such things as increased visibility, ease of access to communities of color, and other such enabling effects.;These forces also contributed to the formulation of newer and more innovative ways of doing the work of organizing. For instance, the very idea of leadership is questioned and blurred in order to emphasize the collective nature of identity and of advocating for rights in this country. It questions the utility of traditional forms of identity politics. It draws attention to such things as immigration status, language ability, gender performativity, race, skin color, and other such forces. In other words, the intersectional imagination seeks to understand the ways in which identities come together and are taken apart - in particular settings, at particular times, with particular audiences.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
