ABSTRACT
Materialism draws from a number of intellectual traditions—affect theory, postcolonial theory, feminism, and critical race theory among others—in order to formulate a vision of human activity that accounts for our lived, embodied existences. The histories of feminism and the study of race are intertwined in the United States of America; the two movements in their modern forms had conjoined beginnings in the nineteenth century abolitionist movement. Critical race theory has contributed a great deal to the understanding of identity, and in this case it can contribute to our understanding of identity formation among ancient Christians. Race is the most commonly cited vector of intersectionality in feminist work, and the work of hooks, Crenshaw, and others explicitly identifies race as the most consequential intersection to gender and sexuality. Strategies concern the marking of territory and defending of positions; placing Certeau in conversation with Bhabhian hybridity helps to alleviate the concern about the reification of identities.
