Intersectionality

This section of the Curriculum Checklist supports art and design educators to interogate their curriculum, ensuring it meets criteria around Intersectionality.

Intersectionality

The term intersectionality (Kimberlé Crenshaw, 1989) is used to define the way that racism interacts with patriarchy, heterosexism, classism, and xenophobia — seeing that the overlapping vulnerabilities created by these systems actually create specific kinds of challenges.

Source: CIJ (u.d.). Available here.

Key Question: All children are sensitive to intersections between race, sexuality, disability, gender, age, class, religion and so on. How might your curriculum inspire and acknowledge our complex identities?

Examples:

  • Does your curriculum value alternative ways of being and doing in the world? Does it acknowledge intersections between ethnicity and for example; gender fluidity, neurodiversity or physical disabilities, etc.
  • In your school the vast majority of children may largely be of one ethnicity, religion, sexuality, class or gender. How do you ensure that your curriculum enables children to consider a greater diversity of life and culture locally, nationally and globally?
  • This is especially important where the school is largely mono-cultural as this enables children to be able to live, work and socialise in a multicultural country.

Intersectionality Resource Examples:

  1. Diversity within the arts - Inclusion and Intersectionality (2021) by Museum and Heritage. Available to view here
  2. BBZ BLK BK (2017) Official Website available to view here
  3. Reimagining Conversations Study (2022) by Dr. Victoria Odeniyi. Available to view here

 

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