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Intersectionality

Intersectionality and decolonisation are deeply interconnected, as both expose and challenge the overlapping systems of oppression—such as racism, patriarchy, and capitalism—that shape global inequities. Together, they push for transformative justice by centering the voices, knowledge, and resistance of those historically silenced, fostering a truly equitable and decolonial future.

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You cannot talk about decolonisation without mentioning intersectionality because colonialism was not just a racial project—it was also deeply gendered, classed, and entangled with systems of oppression like patriarchy, capitalism, and ableism. Decolonisation that ignores intersectionality risks reproducing the same exclusions and hierarchies that colonialism created, sidelining the experiences of women, LGBTQ+ people, and others who faced compounded forms of oppression under colonial rule.

 

A truly decolonial approach must center these intersecting struggles, ensuring that liberation is collective and transformative for historically excluded, and systemically oppressed groups. 

This list is ever-evolving, and will be continuously updated.

If you have any relevant resources you want to share, please reach out to decolonizingglobalhealth@gmail.com

Resources

  • Dabiri, E. (2023) Disobedient Bodies.

    • For too long, beauty has been entangled in the forces of patriarchy and objectification, shame, control, competition and consumerism. We need to find a way to do beauty differently.

  • Crenshaw, K.  (1994). Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color 

    • Feminist efforts to politicize experiences of women and anti racist efforts to politicize experiences of people of color have frequently proceeded as though the issues and experiences they each detail occur on mutually exclusive terrains. Although racism and sexism readily intersect in the lives of real people, they seldom do in feminist and antiracist practices. And so, when the practices expound identity as "woman" or "person of color" as an either/ or proposition, they relegate the identity of women of color to a location that resists telling.

  • Hooks, B. (1982). Aint I a Woman.

    • An examination of the politics of racism and sexism from a feminist perspective, looking at the impact of sexism on African-American women during slavery, the devaluation of African-American womanhood, African-American male sexism, racism within the modern feminist movement, and the African-American woman's involvement in feminism and its experience and relationship to society

  • Lorde, A. (1984). Sister Outsider 

    • Lorde takes on sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, and class, and propounds social difference as a vehicle for action and change. Her prose is incisive, unflinching, and lyrical, reflecting struggle but ultimately offering messages of hope.

Articles

Books

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  • Ahmed, S. (2012). On being included, pp 51-82. Duke University Press

  • ​​Wekker, G. (2004). Still crazy after all those years... Feminism for the new millennium. 

    • The author argues for passing on a particular brand of feminism to next generations. The cultural archive (after Said) to be passed on should be transnational, intersectional, interdisciplinary, relational and reflexive. In particular, the author focuses on processes and practices of racialization as they impact on and are practised within the discipline.

  • Combahee River Collective. (2014). A black feminist statement. 

    • The most general statement of our politics at the present time would be that we are actively committed to struggling against racial, sexual, heterosexual, and class oppression and see as our particular task the development of integrated analysis and practice based upon the fact that the major systems of oppression are interlocked.

Videos

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Webpages

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