ABSTRACT
As critical frame analysis has shown, even when concepts are expressed in the same words, they may have different meanings (Verloo 2006). Intersectionality is itself one of these contested terms within feminist thought. In this chapter, I take up the challenge of considering the debate about what intersectionality means. Leslie McCall (2005) and Ange-Marie Hancock (2007) provide an overview of the debate, classifying ways of understanding intersectionality and arguing for expanding the concept from its frequent focus on groups and identities. Although each affirms the important contributions made by challenging the givenness of categories and by attending to the specific perspectives of women of colour and women in other marginalized locations, they argue that these approaches excessively privilege the individual level and describe static structural locations on ‘axes’ of oppression in a ‘matrix of domination’ (Hill Collins 2001).
