To begin these pieces of writing, I want to ground them in an understanding of intersectionality. This is crucial in understanding how capitalism is interlinked with other forms of oppression. I think there is sometimes a misunderstanding of intersectionality, that it is simply a way to describe compounding systems of oppression. Intersectionality is not simply a way to describe how different systems of oppression can be stacked onto a person’s identity. This understanding of intersectionality assumes that different systems of oppression work separately from one another. Rather, what I want to highlight is the way in which intersectionality is a tool that helps us understand how systems of oppression are intertwined and inform one another. Intersectionality helps us understand how different systems of oppression are inherently tied together, inseparable and enmeshed (Bohrer, 2018). For example, the racism I experience as a bi-racial person, and the sexism or misogyny I experience as a woman are not two different forms of oppression that I encounter. Instead, intersectionality helps us to understand that my identity as a woman influences the remarks I receive about my race and vice versa. They give power to one another.
This entanglement is formed because systems of oppression often emerge together. Meaning, they rely on each other to function. For example, colonization not only relied on racial hierarchies to justify the displacement of Indigenous peoples, but it also relied on heterosexism to be successful (Bohrer, 2018, p. 67). Therefore, when we speak of decolonization, we must also examine our system of sex and gender. Decolonization cannot occur while our conception of sex and gender remains unchallenged because it is inherently colonial in nature. They used one another to be successful, and thus coloniality will always continue to persist through sex and gender, no matter how much we work to decolonize in other areas. We cannot look at systems of oppression independently. In order to change one of them, they must all be considered (Bohrer, 2018, p. 49). I bring this to the surface because the following pieces of writing focus on capitalism, but capitalism does not exist outside of other forms of oppression. My goal is to expose the violence of capitalism by revealing its ties to other forms of oppression, and intersectionality helps us to see how systems of oppression are all intertwined and related.
Additionally, I think what intersectionality helps us do is move away from all-encompassing, binary ways of conceptualizing the world. In a world that loves to conceive of everything in two-dimensional ways, intersectionality helps us to understand that things are complex. Intersectionality requires an understanding of the world as messy and enmeshed. A whole area of grey, not black and white. It moves us away from clear-cut ways of thinking. The systems around us are interwoven and intersectionality allows for all that depth to come through.
Clear-cut, binary ways of thinking are simply not sufficient when examining systems of oppression. An example of this can be seen in Marxist critiques that arise from feminists such as the Combahee River Collective, a group of Black lesbian feminists (Combahee River Collective, 1977, as cited in Bohrer, 2018, p. 49). By focusing on class as the singular defining axis of oppression, we become blind to the ways in which race, gender, sexuality, ability, etc., affect and are intertwined with class. Class cannot be the singular defining axis of oppression because the experience of a person in the working class who is a man will be different from that of a woman, and will be different from that of a woman of colour, and will be different from that of a queer person. Systems of oppression do not work separately and cannot be put into neat boxes. Using intersectionality as a framework allows us to move beyond fixed ways of thinking and towards a conceptualization of these systems as one extensive, tangled-up web.
I wanted to begin with a note on intersectionality to provide a foundation for these pieces of writing. Yes, I am writing about capitalism, but capitalism exists within systems of race, gender, sexuality, class, and ability. Changes in capitalism cannot be made independently but must be done collectively.
References
Bohrer, A. (2018). Intersectionality and marxism: A critical historiography. Historical Materialism: Research in Critical Marxist Theory, 26(2), 46-74. https://doi.org/10.1163/1569206X-00001617
Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241-1299. https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039
Collins, P. H. (1991). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. Routledge.
Combahee River Collective (1977). The combahee river collective statement.