audre lorde proclaimed in her speech at harvard university in 1982 that:
…there’s no such thing as a one issue fight because we don’t live one issue lives.
You are reading: Books on intersectional feminism
lorde then articulated what years later would come to be called ‘intersectionality’. she understood that sexism is inextricably linked with racism, colorism, classism, castism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism. we cannot understand one form of oppression without understanding how it is inextricably linked to the others.
We live at a time when the rich history of intersectional feminist thought and activism is experiencing a resurgence. but the sheer volume of writing on intersectionality can seem overwhelming. When you open a book or article on intersectional feminism, you never know if you’ll find a useful explanation, an esoteric philosophical debate, or outright misinformed nonsense.
This post breaks down five absolutely essential books on intersectional feminism. I have selected them in order of what I think is best for a beginner, but you can choose the one that suits you.
Whether you’re an emerging activist looking to get started or a movement leader looking to nurture yourself intellectually, this collection of books will inspire you.
1. Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics (2000) by bell hooks
Imagine living in a world where there is no domination, where women and men are not the same or even always the same, but where a vision of reciprocity is the ethos that shapes our interaction. imagine living in a world where we can all be who we are, a world of peace and possibility. the feminist revolution by itself will not create such a world; we need to end racism, class elitism, imperialism. but it will allow us to be fully self-realized women and men, capable of creating a loved community, of living together, realizing our dreams of freedom and justice, living the truth that we are all “created equal”.
“feminism is for everyone” is a classic bell hooks manual from the year 2000 and a vital text for anyone new to intersectionality and feminism. hooks conveys complex ideas in the most accessible and lucid ways, included in this short manual.
You would want two copies of this book: one for yourself and one to give to that person in your life who resists intersectional feminism. hooks reviews anti-feminist arguments and calmly, patiently and systematically debunks their ignorance and irrationality.
A few years ago I gave a copy of this book to my non-academic partner. we read each chapter independently and came back together to discuss what we learned over a long, quiet Sunday morning breakfast.
Short, digestible chapters covering topics such as reproductive rights, body image, class inequality, domestic violence, feminist marriage and partnership, feminist parenting, and spirituality.
2. this bridge caught my back: writings by radical women of color (1983) edited by cherríe moraga and gloria anzaldúa
blackfoot friend nisei sister downstairs house upstairs souf sistuh sister the neighborhood korean suburb the bronx lakota menominee cuban chinese puerto rican reservation chicana bell ringer and letters testimonials poems interviews essays journal entries sharing sisters of the yam sisters of the rice sisters of the corn sisters of the bananas getting into telecalls. and we’re all on the line.
I cried the first time I read this bridge called my back. even now, i can’t read those words of toni cade bambara’s exquisite foreword to the original edition without breaking down.
This anthology of radical women of color was published before I was born, but the ideas expressed in these pages are terribly relevant now.
poetry and illustrations are intertwined through brave essays. powerful manifestos remind you that incredible women have been fighting for a better world for our communities long before we got here.
See Also: The 12 Best Violin Books For Beginners In 2022
mitsuye yamada’s “invisibility is an unnatural disaster” reflects the shock and defensiveness of white people in the face of her anger as an asian-american woman. ‘and when you leave, take your photos with you’ denounces racism in the women’s movement. Rosario Morales offers one of my favorite prose on solidarity, reminding us that “we are all in the same boat”. ‘on culture, class and homophobia’, is a humble reminder of how long activists of color have been having ‘intersectional’ debates.
The volume also includes must-have classics: ‘The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle The Master’s House’ by Audre Lorde and ‘A Black Feminist Statement’ by the Combahee River Collective. If I could only take one book to a desert island, this bridge called my back would be my choice.
3. the fire now: antiracist studies in times of explicit racial violence (2019) edited by azeezat johnson, remi joseph-salisbury, and beth kamunge
the UK government’s quest to make Britain, in Theresa May’s words, an “increasingly hostile environment” (Lewis et al., 2017); Donald Trump’s Muslim bans and continued silence in the face of public white supremacist movements; immigration policies and inhumane detention centers; racist criminal (in)justice systems; These are just some of the marks of the virulent explicit racial violence that characterizes contemporary societies. This book is born out of our sense that we (as anti-racist scholars and activists) must bear witness to these times of explicit racial violence: we must work to change our fate within the fire now.
The first two books on this list show perspectives and experiences of intersectional feminism in the United States. From across the pond, the fire now speaks to the contemporary climate of racial violence in the UK and beyond.
From the foreword by christina sharpe (author of Behind the Wake), the book ignites a sense of urgency. I went through each chapter gasping and muttering “oh my god yeah.”
The book is divided into four parts: 1) the transformation of the academy; 2) intersectional identities, intersectional struggles; 3) lessons from history, connections across spaces (which clearly calls out the dumpsters of trump and brexit); and 4) understand and reframe oppression.
The section on intersectionality includes Viji Kuppan’s contribution, ‘Crippling Blackness: Narratives of People of Color with Disabilities from Slavery to Trump,’ which challenges ableism in anti-racist movements and whiteness in disability politics. Leon Sealy-Huggins offers a vital chapter on the structural racial inequality embedded in climate change. but really, there are no bad chapters in this outstanding volume.
4. intersectionality as critical social theory (2019) by patricia hill collins
In Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory, I take the position that intersectionality is much broader than most people, including many of its practitioners, imagine it to be. we have yet to fully understand the potential of the constellation of ideas that fall under the generic term intersectionality as a tool for social change. As a discourse, intersectionality brings together ideas from disparate places, times, and perspectives, allowing people to share viewpoints that were previously forbidden, outlawed, or simply obscured. however, because ideas by themselves do not foster social change, intersectionality is not just a set of ideas. instead, because they inform social action, ideas of intersectionality have consequences in the social world.
no education on intersectionality is complete without a visit to the brilliant mind of patricia hill collins. As a sociologist, Collins has written about interlocking power systems and the dominance matrix long before these ideas became known as “intersectionality.”
This is an academic book and not light reading. The book is primarily concerned with how intersectionality is measured as a critical theory in comparison to traditions such as the Frankfurt School, British Cultural Studies, and Francophone Social Theory.
If you have no idea what I just said, skip this one. I leave this recommendation here mainly for PhD students and academics. intersectionality as critical social theory is an authoritative piece that will undoubtedly shape the future of intersectional theorizing.
5. women, race & class (1981) of angela y. davis
black women were equal to their men in the oppression they suffered; they were the social equals of their men within the slave community; and they resisted slavery with a passion equal to that of their men. this was one of the greatest ironies of the slave system, for by subjecting women to the most ruthless exploitation conceivable, exploitation that knew no distinctions of sex, the basis was created not only for black women to assert their equality through their social relationships, but also express it through their acts of resistance.
women, race & the class is fiercely intellectual, but not limited to academic concerns. The book is structured around a series of essays, primarily historical accounts of feminist, anti-racist, and socialist resistance from slavery to suffrage.
chapters explore black women’s perspectives on liberation and the rise of racism within the suffrage movement. They also delve into concerns such as reproductive rights, the black rapist myth, and the racial and gender division of domestic work.
Davis’s book is hard to read. not so much in the language itself, but in the implacable account of injustice. features narratives and stats that hit you like a hard wall of pain. I found myself holding my breath, shoulders tense with anger. I would suggest reading one chapter at a time, taking moments to breathe and decompress in between.
See Also: Julia Quinn – Book Series In Order
angela davis speaks with passion and power about the need for intersectionality to challenge white bourgeois feminism at the next conference.
6. On Intersectionality: Essential Writings (2023) by Kimberlé Crenshaw (Bonus)
after coining the term ‘intersectionality’ through two academic journal articles in 1989 and 1991, kimberlé crenshaw will publish her own book. I include it here on this list as a sixth recommendation.
So far, there is conflicting information about when this book will be published. there seems to be a very limited number of copies available in libraries, but in most bookstores, it’s available for pre-order in late 2023.
From the title, it sounds like it will probably be a collection of essays. it will certainly include the two original articles “demarginalizing the intersection of race and gender” and “mapping the margins.” it may also include some reflections on how intersectionality has been misunderstood and misappropriated through academia and beyond.
As soon as the book is published, I’ll read it and update this post with my review.
One thing you’ll notice is that none of these books refer to their vision of social justice as “intersectional feminism.” this term is a remix of kimberlé crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality among digital activists that quickly proliferated alongside protest posters such as “my feminism will be intersectional or it will be shit” (originally proclaimed by flavia dzodan).
crenshaw herself does not use “intersectional feminism” in either of the two articles in which intersectionality is developed. rather, she refers to the tradition that influenced her theory as black feminism, as do many of the writers now contributing to the fire.
Some years later, Crenshaw begins using the phrase “intersectional feminism,” as seen here in her 2007 speech at the Omega Women’s Leadership Center.
bell hooks advances her own project that she calls visionary feminism.
“third world feminism” was the 1980s buzzword you’ll see on this bridge called my back.
angela davis has rejected the label “feminist” in the past, calling herself a black communist and revolutionary instead.
Intersectional feminism is not a club with set rules and regulations. it is a creative mix of ideas and practices drawn from the rich and complex history of women of color activism.
intersectional feminism is what we do when we choose to come together and resist interlocking systems of imperialist, white supremacist, capitalist, cis-heteronormative, and patriarchal power.
related: what is intersectional feminism? a definitive guide
image featured by thoughts catalog