Black Intersectionalities—A Critique for the 21st Century
Résumé
Black Intersectionalities—A Critique for the 21st Century explores the complex interrelationships between race, gender, and sex as these are conceptualised within contemporary thought. Markers of identity are too often isolated and presented as definitive, then examined and theorised, a process that further naturalises their absoluteness; thus socially generated constructs become socialising categories that assume coercive power. The resulting set of oppositions isolate and delimit: male or female, black or white, straight or gay. A new kind of intervention is needed, an intervention that recognises the validity of the researcher’s own self-reflexivity. Focusing on the way identity is both constructed and constructive, the collection examines the frameworks and practices that deny transgressive possibilities. It seeks to engage in a consciousness raising exercise that documents the damaging nature of assigned social positions and either/or identity constructions. It seeks to progress beyond the socially prescribed categories of race, gender and sex, recognising the need to combine intellectualization and feeling, rationality and affectivity, abstraction and emotion, consciousness and desire. It seeks to develop new types of transdisciplinary frameworks where subjective and political spaces can be universalized while remaining particular, leaving texts open so that identity remains imagined, plural, and continuously shifting. Such an approach restores the complexity of what it means to be human.
Contributions: Introduction by Monica Michlin (Université Paris-Sorbonne, France) and Jean-Paul Rocchi (Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, France). Rozena Maart (University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa). Antje Schuhmann (Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg, South Africa). Eva Boesenberg (Humboldt-Universität, Berlin, Germany). Florian Bast (Universität Leipzig, Germany). Carsten Junker (University of Bremen, Germany). Jarrett H. Brown (College of the Holy Cross, USA). Charles Nero (Bates College, USA). Claudine Raynaud (Université Paul-Valéry, Montpellier 3, France). Laura Sarnelli (University of Naples “L’Orientale”, Italy). Rebecka Rutledge Fisher (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA). Lewis R. Gordon (University of Connecticut at Storrs, USA). Jennifer S. Leath (Yale University, USA). Sabine Broeck (University of Bremen, Germany).
Black Intersectionalities—A Critique for the 21st Century propose une réflexion critique sur l’identité et la catégorisation identitaire, au-delà des périmètres thématiques et disciplinaires auxquels la recherche sur ces questions est traditionnellement cantonnée. La pensée binaire qui, trop souvent, sous-tend les théories sur l’identité, ainsi bornée par les polarités du genre, de la sexualité ou de la race, ne permet pas de saisir le dynamisme productif avec lequel le sujet, individuel et collectif, perturbe la stigmatisation, l’assignation et la fixité identitaires auxquels il résiste. Dans une approche transverse au politique et au subjectif, où l’universel ne transcende pas le particulier qui le porte, cet ouvrage collectif renouvelle la perspective interdisciplinaire pour une proposition critique de son temps : l’identité en tant qu’elle est plurielle, toujours changeante et à imaginer.
Contributeurs : Introduction de Monica Michlin (Université Paris-Sorbonne, France) et Jean-Paul Rocchi (Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, France). Rozena Maart (University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, Afrique du Sud). Antje Schuhmann (Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg, Afrique du Sud). Eva Boesenberg (Humboldt-Universität, Berlin, Allemagne). Florian Bast (Universität Leipzig, Allemagne). Carsten Junker (University of Bremen, Allemagne). Jarrett H. Brown (College of the Holy Cross, Etats-Unis). Charles Nero (Bates College, Etats-Unis). Claudine Raynaud (Université Paul-Valéry, Montpellier 3, France). Laura Sarnelli (University of Naples “L’Orientale”, Italie). Rebecka Rutledge Fisher (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Etats-Unis). Lewis R. Gordon (University of Connecticut at Storrs, Etats-Unis). Jennifer S. Leath (Yale University, Etats-Unis). Sabine Broeck (University of Bremen, Allemagne).