Religion Intersectionality

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Examines how religious identities intersect with other dimensions of identity, including race, gender, class, and sexuality, shaping experiences of inclusion and exclusion.

Intersectionality theory: The concept of intersectionality, originally introduced by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, describes the ways in which different social identities (such as race, gender, sexuality, class, etc.) intersect and interact to shape experiences of oppression and privilege.
Religious identity: The religious identity of an individual can intersect with other social identities (such as race, gender, sexuality, etc.) to shape experiences of oppression and privilege. Understanding the intersection of religion with other social identities is crucial to understanding the complexity of religious experience.
Intersectional approaches to the study of religion: Intersectional approaches to the study of religion involve examining the multiple dimensions of identity and the ways in which they intersect to shape religious experience. This approach emphasizes the importance of examining the diversity of religious experience and the ways in which different identities intersect to create unique experiences.
Race and religion: The intersection of race and religion has been a major topic of study in the field of religious studies. This intersection has been shown to impact experiences of religious belonging, exclusion, and discrimination.
Gender and religion: Gender has also been shown to intersect with religion in complex ways, with the experiences of men and women in religious communities often differing significantly.
Sexuality and religion: The intersection of sexuality and religion has been an area of tension and conflict in many religious communities, with LGBTQ individuals often experiencing exclusion and discrimination.
Class and religion: Class is another social identity that can intersect with religion, with studies showing that social and economic inequality can impact religious experience and affiliation.
Intersectionality and religious studies methodology: The study of religion itself can be approached through an intersectional lens, with the ways in which scholars approach their research and the questions they ask being influenced by their own social identities and experiences.
Intersectionality and religious activism: Understanding the intersection of different social identities is crucial for those who seek to promote social justice and equality within religious communities.
Intersectionality and religious pluralism: In a pluralistic society, understanding the intersection of different religious and social identities is essential to promoting mutual respect and understanding across diverse communities.
"Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how a person's various social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege."
"Examples of these factors include gender, caste, sex, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, religion, disability, weight, and physical appearance."
"These intersecting and overlapping social identities may be both empowering and oppressing."
"Intersectional feminism aims to separate itself from white feminism by acknowledging women's differing experiences and identities."
"The term intersectionality was coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989."
"Intersectionality opposes analytical systems that treat each axis of oppression in isolation."
"In this framework, for instance, discrimination against black women cannot be explained as a simple combination of misogyny and racism, but as something more complicated."
"Intersectionality engages in similar themes as triple oppression, which is the oppression associated with being a poor or immigrant woman of color."
"Criticism includes the framework's tendency to reduce individuals to specific demographic factors, and its use as an ideological tool against other feminist theories."
"Critics have characterized the framework as ambiguous and lacking defined goals."
"As it is based in standpoint theory, critics say the focus on subjective experiences can lead to contradictions and the inability to identify common causes of oppression."
"However, little good-quality quantitative research has been done to support or undermine the theory of intersectionality."
"An analysis of academic articles published through December 2019 found that there are no widely adopted quantitative methods to investigate research questions informed by intersectionality."
"The analysis ... provided recommendations on analytic best practices for future research."
"An analysis of academic articles published through May 2020 found that intersectionality is frequently misunderstood when bridging theory into quantitative methodology."
"In 2022, a quantitative approach to intersectionality was proposed based on information theory, specifically synergistic information."
"In this framing, intersectionality is identified with the information about some outcome (e.g. income, etc.) that can only be learned when multiple identities (e.g. race and sex) are known together."
"Intersectionality is identified with the information about some outcome [...] that can [...] not [be] extractable from analysis of the individual identities considered separately."
"Critics [argue] the inability to identify common causes of oppression."
"Intersectionality broadens the scope of the first and second waves of feminism, [...] to include the different experiences of women of color, poor women, immigrant women, and other groups."