A modern sociological term created in 1989 by an American Civil Rights scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw. It comes from the term “intersection”, which means a point where two or more lines intersect (e.g. a road junction). The metaphor of “intersectionality” means that all the respective components of one’s identity (such as gender, race/ethnicity, nationality, class, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, socio-economic status, etc.) intersect with each other, “creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage”. Originally, the idea belonged to feminist studies. Crenshaw claimed that the situation of black women and white women is not equal and that the feminist movement is not inclusive enough. Currently “intersectionality” has a more comprehensive meaning, emphasizing the fact that gender category cannot be applied in research or investigated separately, without taking into account broader context and additional variables (gender & race, gender & age, gender & class, etc.). 

The intersectional approach takes into consideration “the interconnected nature of social categorisations such as race, class, and gender” and acknowledges that “everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression and we must consider everything and anything that can marginalise people – gender, race, class, sexual orientation, physical ability, etc.” and many different factors determining people’s access to power and privilege.

The main dimensions of intersectionality that should be taken into consideration in all fields of study, including food studies, are: social (in)equality, dynamic nature of inequality, contextual dependency, structural and political contexts, power relations, implications for the most disadvantaged, researchers’ situatedness and reflexivity. 

Source: “Intersectionality, N., Sense 2.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, July 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/8904687553; Womenkind Worldwide 2019 “Intersectionality: What Is It and Why Is It Important?”, https://www.womankind.org.uk/intersectionality-101-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-important/; Elizabeth Larson et al. “10 Best resources on... intersectionality with an emphasis on low- and middle-income countries”, Health Policy and Planning, 2016, 31(8):964-9, doi: 10.1093/heapol/czw020.