Critical Intersectionality, Not Just Another Form of “Academic Bullshit”

Contemporary invocations of intersectionality in activism and policy analysis – particularly, but not exclusively, within the European context – frequently engage with the concept in an acritical manner. This tendency towards color-blind, gender-first, or otherwise depoliticized approaches risks undermining intersectionality’s transformative potential, reducing it to “just another form of [...] ‘academic bullshit’” (Collins 2019: 3). Building on Patricia Hill Collins’ (2019) argument that intersectionality must operate as a critical social theory to address structural inequalities and catalyze meaningful change, in this paper we call for a more robust and transformative application of intersectionality in activism and policy research. We propose some foundational tenets for more critical intersectional analysis, emphasizing the need to transcend the prevailing gender-centric logic and to integrate discussions of race and racialization that are often neglected in European scholarship. We also, relatedly, emphasize the centrality of social justice to intersectionality as a critical theory – which we argue entails moving beyond advocating for mere reforms to liberal ‘democratic’ institutions and policies. Indeed, limiting transformation in this way serves to naturalise and normalise the existing social and political world, and to disempower those at the brunt of intersecting inequities. To make this argument, we review and critically analyse a range of key and recent texts offering intersectional activism and policy analysis. We seek to push intersectional activism and policy analysis beyond simply describing the content of existing policies as additive and individually focused, focusing upon what intersectionality is not, and on policy content rather than impact. In contrast, intersectionality as critical theory must criticise social inequities, and not simply activist strategies and policy documents. This is important because "[m]uch is at stake in getting intersectionality right within our current social, intellectual, and political contexts" (Collins 2019: 18). Furthermore, we suggest a research agenda that incorporates innovative methodologies extending beyond conventional social movement and policy document analysis. These methods aim to deepen the operationalization of intersectionality as both a political and methodological tool and a policy strategy for advancing social justice. Doing so, we seek to push European activism and policy analysis further toward a truly critical and transformative engagement with intersectionality, capable of addressing the complexity and interconnectedness of structural inequalities, and to encourage reflective accountability among practitioners of intersectional analysis.