Intersectionality vs/and interconnectedness

Although the seeds of it go back much further, in the past five years there seems to have been a marked intensification of the importance of stressing “intersectionality” within Women’s Studies (as well as other interdisciplinary locations). To be certain, it is very important to have an understanding of intersectionality in order to more fully understand the complexity with which we, as individuals, must negotiate our multiple, simultaneous locations—as gendered, sexed, queer, classed, raced, etc.—within institutions and systems in our everyday lived lives.

I sometimes, wonder, however, if we haven’t put too much of our attention on individuals’ intersectionality, at the cost of overlooking the importance of also attending to all people’s interconnectedness?

(These thoughts spurred in part by a recent visit to the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial. More on this later.)