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For the purposes of this thread, I will be discussing intersectionality on the basis of racial and gender discrimination, specifically of African American women and women of African descent.

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1.Marked and Unmarked

“Marked” and “unmarked” in the context of language is used to describe the way in which language talks about something. In Making Sense of Language, Susan D. Blum breaks the two terms down as unmarked being “the default or typical case” of a word while marked is “atypical, not the default case; having to be indicated by some particular mark” (618, 623). The most common example of this would be a singular word like “flower” to be the unmarked word while “flowers” is marked as it makes the distinction of being more than one in which one “flower” is the default. This concept can extend much farther than just singular and plural. One such idea is the practice of having male pronouns be the unmarked pronouns when talking about an unknown person while the marked pronouns being the other pronouns that are then used once the gender of the person being talked about is clarified. 

#markedandunmaked #Language

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2. Intersectionality

This is a term that most people know, but for those who don’t, intersectionality is a term coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989 to describe a frame of overlapping of more than one form of discrimination (Cooper). The forms of discrimination include racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, class discrimination, ableism and many more (Crenshaw, Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex 139-141) (Crenshaw, Why Intersectionality Can’t Wait) Since the introduction of the word, intersectionality has been included in many conversations both in the academic sphere as well as mainstream media. With the rise of movements like Black Lives Matter and the fight for Gun Control, the inclusion of intersectionality in those conversations has become more important than ever. However, the problem that remains is that intersectionality is still not automatically included in these conversations.

#intersectionality #kimberlecrenshaw #markedintersectionality

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3. Marked Intersectionality

Marked Intersectionality is when the inclusion of intersectionality in conversation having to do with important issues such as Black Lives Matter and Gun Control have to be marked.

To further break down, with the initial rise of attention towards black victims of police brutality, the term intersectionality was not fully included in the conversations until the SayHerName campaign which brought attention to the women of color who had also been victims of police brutality. With more recent issues like Gun Control, activists like Naomi Wadler are bringing the conversation back to the inclusion of people of color and intersectionality when talking about the victims of gun violence.

In the video, Wadler talks about the relevance of the inclusion of intersectionality in the conversation about gun control. She states that the inclusion of intersectionality is helpful to the conversation because it brings attention and “focus to the gun violence that happens towards black and brown communities and not just the gun violence that happened to upper-middle-class white kids from Parkland, Florida” (00:50).

This inclusion of intersectionality perfectly displays the way in which intersectionality has to be marked and is very much marked by activists like Naomi Wadler in order to be included in conversations such as this one. However, the marked nature of intersectionality in mainstream discussion about significant issues such as this one isn’t exactly new in the history of the inclusion of intersectionality.

#activism #human rights #ingenious minds #intersectionality #guncontrol #naomiwadler #gunviolence

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4. Intersectionality in Black Lives Matter

The marking of intersectionality started with Crenshaw when she created the word herself to talk about the overlapping of different forms of discrimination and how it is important for the term to be included in conversations in order for us to better understand it.

In this video talking about intersectionality, Crenshaw talks about the importance of a frame of discrimination like intersectionality in order to better understand how different levels of discrimination take place. In the context of the Black Lives Matter movement, intersectionality is marked through the Say Her Name campaign.

#sayhername #blacklivesmatter #kimberlecrenshaw #TEDWomen

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5. Intersectionality in the Academic Sphere

       However, activism is necessary to mark intersectionality into these conversations and situations in which activism is not as present may often result in the exclusion of intersectionality in the discussion of topics extending past the necessity of why intersectionality is important. John Jackson’s book Harlemworld is one such example. In his book, Jackson talks about Harlem and how it is represented to the rest of the world and what it means to African Americans or people of African descent. He also talks extensively about the way in which “blackness” and “whiteness” are performed inside and outside of Harlem through his interviews with the residents of Harlem (159). However, in his discussion in the way “blackness” is performed, he centers the conversation mainly on class being the difference rather than another important factor: gender roles. The importance of the way that the black women of Harlem experienced “blackness” was not included in his observation or analysis. This is an example of the unmarked conversation that excludes the aspect of intersectionality and how it assumes the experience of “blackness” and “whiteness” for most black people without considering the way in which it might differ for black women.

#harlemworld #johnjackson #intersectionality #unmarked

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6. The Importance of Marking Intersectionality

The marking is necessary in order to expand the discussion from just the black male victims of police brutality to all black people. Marking intersectionality fights to change the default of movements like Black Lives Matter to not just black males but black females as well. In the context of Gun Control, the marked nature of intersectionality fights to change the default of a white upper-middle-class victim to victims of other ethnicities and classes. In situations, like the academic sphere, in which intersectionality is not always included, there is a greater need in order to better understand the topic being discussed. In his discussion of “blackness” and “whiteness”, John Jackson neglects to include a discussion in which blackness and whiteness are performed differently for black women in Harlem. 

#harlemworld #johnjackson #intersectionality #blackness

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Citations

Blum, Susan Debra. Making Sense of Language: Readings in Culture and Communication. 3rd ed., Oxford University Press, 2017.

Cooper, Brittney. “Black Lives Matter - All of Them.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 23 Sept. 2015, www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2015/09/23/black-lives-do-matter-all-of-them/?utm_term=.06f2ea64c873.

Crenshaw, Kimberle. "Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: a black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory, and antiracist politics." Feminism and politics (1998): 314-343.

Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “The Urgency of Intersectionality.” TED, TEDWomen 2016, 2016, www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionality#t-310449

Jackson, John L. “Chapter 5 White Harlem: Toward the Performative Limits of Blackness.” :Harlemworld Doing Race and Class in Contemporary Black America, University of Chicago Press, 2010, pp. 159–190.

Lallensack, Rachael. “March for Our Lives Activist Naomi Wadler Isn't Like Most 12-Year-Olds.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 2 Jan. 2019, www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/march-our-lives-activist-naomi-wadler-isnt-most-12-year-olds-180971057/.