It's All In the Family: Intersections of Gender, Race, and Nation

Abstract

Intersectionality has attracted substantial scholarly attention in the 1990s. Rather than examining gender, race, class, and nation as distinctive social hierarchies, intersectionality examines how they mutually constrmct one another. I explore how the traditional family ideal functions as a privileged exemplar of intersectionality in the United States. Each of its six dimensions demonstrates specific connections between family as agendered system of social organization, racial ideas and practices, and constructions of U.S. national identity.When former vice president Dan Quayle used the term family values near the end of a speech at a political fundraiser in 1992, he apparently touched a national nerve. Following Quayle's speech, close to threc hundred articles using the term family values in their titles appeared in the popular press. Despite the range of political perspectives expressed on "family values," one thing remained clear-"family values," however defined, seemed central to national well-being. The term family values constituted a touchstone, a phrase that apparently tapped much deeper feelings about the significance of ideas of family, if not actual families themselves, in the United States.Situated in the center of "family values" debates is an imagined traditional family ideal. Formed through a combination of marital and blood ties, ideal families consist of heterosexual couples that produce their own biological children. Such families have a specific authority structure; namely, a fatherhead earning an adequate family wage, a stay-at-home wife, and children. Those who idealize the traditional family as a private haven from a public world see family as held together by primary emotional bonds of love and caring. Assuming a relatively fixed sexual division of labor, wherein women's roles are defined as primarily in the home and men's in the public world of work, the traditional family ideal also assumes the separation of work and Hypatia vol. 13, no. 3 (Summer 1998) 0 by Patricia Hill Collins

Linking local and global feminist advocacy: Framing women's rights as human rights in the Republic of Ireland

“…This resonates with recent feminist theorizing on "intersectionality" (Crenshaw, 1997;Collins, 2000) and related calls in the global women"s movements for an intersectional approach to women"s human rights advocacy (Bunch 2001). It is noteworthy, however, that only interlocutors who work directly with Travellers explicitly named racism as an obstacle to promoting women"s human rights.…”

Negotiating White science in a racially and ethnically diverse United States

“…Lastly, having been perceived negatively, because her family were farmers, Sabrina was able to identify with her students and how various factors (such as race and socioeconomic status) influenced her position on the social hierarchy where White upper/middle class males reigned. Collins (1998) My participants were guided by their experiences as middle class privileged White women. Eden related this to being in a bubble and never having to step out.…”

Racismo, clase social y género en el espacio urbano

“…La investigadora Patricia Hill Collins (2000) utiliza el concepto de afuera/de adentro para analizar como grupos históricamente excluidos/ marginados corporalizan posiciones hibridas (Narayan, 1997) dentro de la ciencia y en los procesos de investigación. Nuestra posición como de afuera/de adentro (uno de los miembros del equipo de investigación se conceptualiza como "negro" y el otro se identifica con la ciudad de Buenos Aires a pesar del exilio y la diáspora) fue un punto ventajoso en el trabajo de campo, donde nuestras diferentes identidades crearon una espacio de confianza, intimidad y respeto.…”