Pedagogy Oct 2025

Teaching Intersectionality in the Age of Intersectionality

Elisabeth Windle

Abstract

Abstract Taking their cue from the internet and popular cultures in which they engage, college students are becoming more comfortable with the notion of intersectionality, a term first coined in the late 1980s by the critical race scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw. Drawing from her legal training as well as Black feminist precursors such as Sojourner Truth, Crenshaw shows how to best understand the experiences of the multiply marginalized, not through a simple process of addition (woman plus Black, for instance) but through a careful attention to the way in which the specific combination of those two identities can create new forms of marginalization obscured by single-vector frameworks. For those who teach undergraduate writing students, the proliferation of intersectionality in cultural conversation offers a unique opportunity: here is a densely theoretical concept that students are eager to think about and which, in fact, they may already be thinking about. This piece provides a pedagogical model for approaching intersectionality in the writing classroom. Using Langston Hughes's richly ambiguous short story, “Seven People Dancing,” which foregrounds the racial, sexual, class, and gender identities of its characters, the article guides instructors through a process by which students can use theoretical concepts to produce stronger analyses of complicated texts.

Journal
Pedagogy
Published
2025-10-01
DOI
10.1215/15314200-11874323
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
writing pedagogy graduate education teacher development race and writing gender and writing literary studies
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

References (25) · 1 in this index

  1. Butler (1988)
    Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory
    Theatre Journal  ↗
  2. Butler (1990)
    Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity
  3. Coaston Jane . 2019. “The Intersectionality Wars.” Vox, May 28. https://…
  4. Collins (2019)
    Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory
  5. Combahee River Collective (1977)
    A Black Feminist Statement
Show all 25 →
  1. Craven (2019)
    Intersectionality and Identity: Critical Considerations in Teaching Introduction to Women…
    Frontiers  ↗
  2. Crenshaw (1989)
    Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscri…
    University of Chicago Legal Forum
  3. Crenshaw (1991)
    Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color
    Stanford Law Review  ↗
  4. Davis Angela Y. and MartínezElizabeth. 1993. “Coalition Building Among …
  5. Davis (2008)
    Intersectionality as Buzzword: A Sociology of Science Perspective on What Makes a Feminis…
    Feminist Theory  ↗
  6. Du Bois (1994)
    The Souls of Black Folk
  7. Guidroz (2009)
    A Conversation with Founding Scholars of Intersectionality: Kimberlé Crenshaw, Nira Yuval…
  8. Hancock (2011)
    Solidarity Politics for Millennials: A Guide to Ending the Oppression Olympics
     ↗
  9. Hartocollis Anemona , and FawcettEliza. 2023. “The College Board Strips …
  10. Heath William . 1810. A Pair of Broad Bottoms. Etching on paper, 350mm ×…
  11. Horton (2021)
    The Theme Course
    Pedagogy
  12. Hughes Langston . 2016. “Seven People Dancing.” New Yorker, May30. https…
  13. Lewis Frederick Christian . 1810. Sartjee, the Hottentot Venus. Etching …
  14. Li Zhou. 2021. “The Atlanta Shootings Can't Be Divorced from Racism and Misogyny.” Vox, March 18. https://www…
  15. Podell Leslie . n.d. The Sojourner Truth Project. https://www.thesojourn…
  16. Shapiro Ben . 2018. “What Is Intersectionality?” Prager U. YouTube Video…
  17. Spellman (1988)
    Inessential Woman: Problems of Exclusion in Feminist Thought
  18. Stamper Kory . 2018. “A Brief, Convoluted History of the Word ‘Intersect…
  19. Thomason Andy . 2023. “Florida's State Colleges Say They'll Ban Promotio…
  20. Treisman Deborah . 2016. “Discovering an Unpublished Short Story by Lang…
CrossRef global citation count: 0 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Pedagogy Jan 2026
    Contributors ↗
    rhetorical criticism genre theory writing pedagogy graduate education two-year college teacher development social media race and writing gender and writing affect and writing literary studies editorial matter
  2. Pedagogy Oct 2025
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory cultural rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy advanced composition creative writing writing across the curriculum graduate education two-year college service learning teacher development technical communication professional writing labor and working conditions archival research multimodality artificial intelligence literacy studies race and writing gender and writing disability studies literary studies editorial matter
  3. Pedagogy Apr 2025
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism african american rhetorics cultural rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy basic writing graduate education two-year college teacher development writing centers technical communication professional writing labor and working conditions digital rhetoric multimodality social media literacy studies race and writing gender and writing community literacy literary studies editorial matter
  4. Pedagogy Apr 2023
    Contributors ↗
    rhetorical criticism first-year composition writing pedagogy creative writing graduate education two-year college service learning teacher development writing centers technical communication professional writing labor and working conditions digital rhetoric multimodality race and writing gender and writing literary studies editorial matter
  5. Pedagogy Jan 2022
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis african american rhetorics decolonial rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy basic writing writing across the curriculum graduate education teacher development argument collaborative writing transfer assessment portfolios writing program administration writing centers peer tutoring technical communication professional writing archival research digital rhetoric social media grammar and mechanics literacy studies race and writing gender and writing disability studies public rhetoric community literacy literary studies editorial matter