AustLit

'Intersectionality is a relatively recent term for a deeply historic phenomenon. It refers to the way in which individuals and groups are caught in intersecting systems of oppression, such as class, race and gender. As Ange-Marie Hancock argues, intersectionality has been a ‘pathbreaking analytical framework for understanding questions of inequality and injustice’.1 It has become part of popular culture in recent years as the rise of populism and the growth of inequality in countries across the world have inspired new movements of solidarity between all those who think that black lives matter, or who reject a narrow view of immigration that sees Australia and New Zealand resorting to notions of labour productivity that are closely intertwined with race and gender. Who is understood as deserving in a nation, whether immigrant, refugee, poor, or of colour? Who decides this—and who protests these decisions? How this notion of ‘deserving’ is enacted upon—how this decision is made—is a site upon which individuals negotiate the intersections between huge systems that seek to define populations and individuals. Who gets to use which bathroom or wear which school uniform? Who can go through passport control with ease? The popular rise in engagement with intersectionality evident in these current political examples was anticipated and accompanied by the growth of scholarship on the phenomenon.'  (Editorial introduction)