Abstract
This research uses intersectionality theory to examine the experiences of students of color at a predominantly White university in the southeastern United States. Through nine focus group interviews, overlooked systems of power that perpetuate inequalities associated with the intersection of Brown and Black skin, and other categories of identity, are illuminated and explored. The counternarratives of 31 students expose subtle and unnoticed ways in which race, sex, sexual orientation, and perceived immigrant status, separately and combined, induce a set of expectations, assumptions, and treatments from White tudents on and around campus. The roles of structure and dominant ideologies in these students' experiences and interactions are also explored. Findings show that these students of color face racialization, stereotyping, objectification, pathologizing, and policing of behavior, which occur mostly through microaggressions, and which work to reinforce White privilege. These processes vary according to the particular combination of intersecting identities.
TopIntroduction
The theoretical perspective of intersectionality has been used to explore experiences of people simultaneously holding multiple statuses of oppression and/or privilege, and how these intersecting identities affect institutional and personal outcomes, interpersonal interactions, and every day and cumulative experiences (Crenshaw, 1989). But some have criticized intersectional approaches in their tendency to “turn inward” (Collins 2009, ix), that is, to focus on the individuals’ experiences with these multiple social identities. This is perceived as neglecting to emphasize the systems of power and oppression that create and perpetuate, and are reinforced and strengthened by, these oppressive categories and the individuals’ experiences in these intersecting categories. To ignore these aspects of identity construction and imposition is irresponsible, and disregards the techniques by which power works, is manifested, and is maintained.
This chapter sheds light on the typically overlooked systems of power that perpetuate the inequalities associated with intersecting categories of identity. This study relies on nine focus group meetings with a total of 31 self-identified students of color at a primarily White institution in the U.S. Southeast to explore the relationship between experiences of individuals with intersecting identities and the oppressive systems of power that create these identities and these experiences. In line with Critical Race Theory methodology, this research makes use of these students’ counternarratives to examine the subtle and overlooked ways in which the systems of race, sex, sexual orientation, and perceived immigrant status, separately and combined, evoke a set of expectations, assumptions, and treatments from dominant group members that affect their daily and cumulative experiences as college students. This research also focuses on the roles of structure and dominant ideologies in these students’ experiences and interactions. These students’ interviews reveal that, mainly through microaggressions, they face racialization, stereotyping, objectification, pathologizing, and policing of behavior. All of these processes vary with the particular combination of intersecting identities, and they all work to reinforce White normativity in all campus settings.
Key Terms in this Chapter
White Privilege: Unearned and unfair advantages afforded to Whites in racist societies due to their skin color and is often reflected in the ability to avoid visibility, surveillance, and harmful stereotypes due to the pervasive assumption of Whiteness as normal and good.
White Normativity: The notion that Whiteness is the normal and standard racial identity, which confers the implicit ability for Whites to create and reinforce standards and norms against which others are evaluated.
Intersectionality: A framework for examining and understanding the ways in which various aspects of an individual’s identities together create their particular experiences of privilege or oppression. Intersectionality emphasizes the significance of considering the intersection of these identities rather than each factor alone in order to understand a person’s social location and personal experiences.
Heteronormativity: The notion that heterosexuality is the only acceptable and normal variation of sexual orientation and expression.
Social Blackening: The process of degrading an individual’s social status in one or more systems of social stratification, including race, sex, sexual orientation, and ethnicity, which effectively reinforces the social dynamics of White privilege and often other structures, like heteronormativity.
Microaggression: A verbal or nonverbal, intentional or unintentional, and usually subtle, action that illuminates one or more of the target’s oppressed statuses and makes them feel marginalized, othered, or degraded, and conveys bias about that person because of their identity characteristic(s).
Gendered Racism: A form of intersectional oppression that reveals a bias towards the target due to their perceived race and sex.