ABSTRACT

Sojourner Truth and Intersectionality investigates how the story of the 19th-century abolitionist and women’s rights advocate Sojourner Truth has come to be an iconic feminist story, and explores the continued relevance of this story for contemporary feminist debates in general, and intersectionality scholarship in particular.

Tracing various academic reception histories of the story of Sojourner Truth and the famous "Ain’t I a Woman?" speech, the book gives insight into how this story has been taken up by feminist scholars in different times, places, and political contexts. Exploring in particular how and why the story of Sojourner Truth has become a key reference for the theoretical and political framework of intersectionality, the book examines what the consequences of this connection are both for how intersectionality is understood today, and how the story of Sojourner Truth is approached. The book examines key intersecting dimensions within the story of Truth and its reception, including gender, race, class and religion.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars in gender, women’s and feminist studies. In particular, the book will be of interest to those wishing to learn more about intersectionality and Sojourner Truth.

chapter |13 pages

Introduction

Travels with Truth

chapter Chapter 1|31 pages

Beyond the Historical Truth?

Feminist Knowledges as traveling truths

chapter Chapter 2|24 pages

Intersectionality as Traveling Theory

European intersectionality debates

chapter Chapter 3|19 pages

Ain't I a Woman?

Feminist theory and the unstable subject of "woman"

chapter Chapter 4|24 pages

Post/secular Truths

Sojourner Truth at the intersection of gender, race, and religion

chapter Chapter 5|33 pages

Post/socialist Truths

Thinking through Sojourner Truth and Alexandra Kollontai

chapter |9 pages

Conclusion

A personal and academic travelogue