ABSTRACT
This chapter is an exploration of the debates over the past few decades that have helped to reframe both the agendas of feminism and of scholarship on race and ethnicity. We argue that although it is perhaps taken for granted today that these areas of research are closely tied together, this was not the case in the context of scholarly debates until the 1980s and 1990s. The chapter begins by discussing the early efforts to bring about a dialogue between researchers working on race and ethnicity and those focused on gender. It is only as a result of these early efforts that we have seen in the period since the 1980s and 1990s a flowering of research on the intersections between race, gender, and class, making this is one of the most vibrant and rapidly expanding areas of scholarly debate. The chapter discusses the contributions made by black feminists and women of colour to these ongoing debates.
