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Intersectionality and Peace

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The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies

Synonyms

Inclusion; Interconnection

Definition

Intersectionality refers to how multiple factors or systems of power and oppression – such as gender, race, class, age, and sexuality – intersect in defining the societal structures and people’s lived experiences. In conflict-affected societies, intersectionality helps in understanding not only the kinds of violence people might suffer but also the varied interests, needs, agencies, and views toward what constitutes inclusive and sustainable peace. This approach, however, has so far largely been absent in both peace research and peacebuilding practice.

Introduction

Originally coined by Kimberlé W. Crenshaw (1989), a US critical legal race scholar, intersectionality was deployed to bring to the fore the experiences of oppression of women of color and how these experiences were based on multiple intersecting axes of social division, in particular race, gender, and class. In her work, Crenshaw (1989, 1991) showed how women of color were...

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Correspondence to Elena B. Stavrevska .

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Stavrevska, E.B., Smith, S. (2020). Intersectionality and Peace. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11795-5_120-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11795-5_120-1

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