From Buzzword to Critical Psychology: An Invitation to Take Intersectionality Seriously

Abstract

In this paper, I introduce a framework that invites psychologists to take intersectionality seriously. First, I revisit some primary tools of intersectional analysis and underscore their relevance to critical training. I then sketch out a flexible typology of what intersectionality is and, more consequentially, what it is not. Next, I consider how intersectionality can help to reimagine the relationships between complementary and competing paradigms in multicultural feminist theory. Finally, I extend Cole’s three-question framework for intersectional research in psychology to develop practical questions that might deepen psychology’s engagement with intersectionality at the level of critical pedagogy.

Keywords:

• Clinical training
• intersectionality
• multiculturalism
• pedagogy
• psychotherapy
• structural competency

Note

Notes

1 Anecdotally, I find that failure to recall this structuring element of the paper is one easy way to ascertain whether or not someone has actually read Crenshaw’s work.