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Shared World, Shared Struggles: Education and the Intersectionality of Movements

Intersectionality, or the idea that we have multiple and overlapping identities that may afford us privilege in some cases and compound oppression in others, was a powerful contribution from critical legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw (1990). It called attention to the importance of understanding how different forms of structural inequities can affect us at the individual level given our personal identities.

Examinations of intersectionality have produced distinct social struggles, intellectual traditions, and efforts to educate others based on the limitations of single-issue/single-identity movements. For example, classical Marxism privileged the category of worker/laborer over any other identity; white feminism as a movement was limited in accounting for the experiences of people of color; challenging mass incarceration and the US criminal justice system has sometimes missed the opportunity to understand the role of Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as detention at the US-Mexico border as linked to the policing of marginalized communities; open border movements have not always addressed concerns with Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination, to name a few examples. Awareness of intersectionality at the level of identity thus gave way to different forms of thinking about struggle and linked up seemingly distinct concerns under new movements and forms of thought such as racial capitalism, the Black feminist tradition, Black Lives Matter and the UndocuBlack Network, collectives working on and through Abya Yala, and many others.

As intersectionality offered a nuanced examination of the experiences of individuals and gave way to distinct social movement, there is still a question about how these movements relate to one another, both within and beyond the United States. Angela Davis (2015) argues that “the greatest challenge facing us as we attempt to forge international solidarities and connections across national borders is an understanding of what feminists often call ‘intersectionality.’ Not so much intersectionality of identities, but intersectionality of struggles” (p. 144). We understand Davis’ focus on intersectionality of struggles to be a challenge both within and beyond the United States. In other words, we seek to explore the intersectionality of struggles both within and beyond the United States. If we are to share the world, it appears likely that we may also have shared struggles to make this a reality.

Key Questions

We ask three questions to explore the contours of shared struggles for the construction of a shared world:

• Though social movements may emerge from varying personal experiences and identities, are there shared concerns across these seemingly distinct struggles?
• How do we facilitate communication across these different movements?
• What is the role of schooling and education in building solidarity and exploring shared concerns across these movements?

We invite submissions from educators (teachers, activists, professors, community organizers, to name a few) and others who may be interested in sharing their insights to these questions both within and beyond the United States. Possible approaches to answering these questions may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Historical examples of solidarity between/among marginalized groups
• Contemporary solidary struggles between distinct social movements.
• Activist education and community organizing underscoring the relationships between seemingly distinct struggles.
• School/classroom practices that build upon commonalities across lines of difference.
• Reflections and examples regarding the roles of schools/classrooms in advancing shared struggles for a shared world.
• Engagements with the following as shared struggles for a shared world: multiculturalism (Nieto & Bode, 2019), critical race theory (Bell, 1993; Yosso, 2005), hybridization and mesitzaje (Anzaldúa, 2012), decolonization (Fanon, 2004; 2008), and decoloniality (Walsh & Mignolo, 2018).
• Engagements with the limitations of shared struggles for a shared world such as afro-pessimist platforms and critiques through incommensurability.

Abstracts Due: September 1, 2020

Notification of Acceptance: September 30, 2020

First Draft Due: December 20, 2020

Revised Draft Returned: February 1, 2020

Final Submission Due: April 1, 2020

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