"Intersectionality" is not just a fashionable catch-phrase. It's fundamentally historical.
Consider the word "intersectionality" from a visual standpoint -- beginning with street names, finding their intersections, and zooming out -- and the concept reveals itself clearly. If we focus in on singular spaces, as Occupy Wall Street did, we see that every kind of movement can intersect in a particular place, sometimes all at once. One thing that we may start to wonder is to what extent social movements of different kinds have influenced each other in the past. By highlighting overlapping layers of history, we can begin to see the ways in which these interwoven histories have produced the spaces that we live in, work in, and move through. Revealing the intersections between these histories can also build courage and solidarity, enabling us to better understand how our various movements can move forward together. Now, our movements do have very different starting places. They move in different ways and directions. In particular, the struggle, and the activi
