(2017-04-25) Liang, Bridget; Halifax, Nancy; Karpinski, Eva
Intersectionality is a core theory and practice for both activists and academics interested in social justice. From its roots articulating the unique experience that black women faced in comparison to the mono identity marginalized experiences of being black or a woman. Intersectionality has expanded to include experiences of queerness, disability, fat, class, religion, transness, and a host of other identity experiences. With so many different axis’ of oppression, articulating the complexities of multiply marginalized experiences becomes difficult. In this paper, I argue in favour of using arts-based research methods, particularly storytelling as a way to convey this complexity. Through telling stories, complex experiences of intersectional experience can be conveyed. Storytelling is an art form and a methodology that is embodied, experienced, and visceral. Storytelling can be and has historically been used argumentatively and as a form of knowledge production. To demonstrate the application of my theorizing, I have written a science-fiction story. Informed by my experiences of being multiply marginalized, I create a world where aliens with feline-like bodies crashland on Earth and are stranded here. They utilize their technology to attempt to change their bodies to pass for human with varying degrees of success. The notion of the alien interests me as someone who experiences numerous forms of marginalization. I regularly feel alienated and alien when interacting with people who do not share my experiences. Being alien I theorize, is an experience that can be read multiple ways creating space for multiply marginalized experiences to be theorized and experienced.