ABSTRACT
The articles in this volume, Intersectionality and Politics: Recent Research on Gender, Race and Political Representation in the United States, reflect the relatively recent but expanding interest in the application of intersectionality theory to political science. The volume also represents the first collection of research and essays that apply the concepts of intersectionality specifically to descriptive and substantive representation by elected officials of color at various levels of office, from multiple states, and with a focus on more than one racial/ethnic group. Whereas scholars have, to some degree, used intersectionality theory to examine the ways categories such as race/ethnicity, gender, class, sexual orientation and other markers of identity act together to produce situations in which women, and men, may become marginalized or subject to various forms of discrimination and oppression, the authors represented here demonstrate the importance of this theory for understanding political leadership of elected officials of color-especially women.
