Intersectional Solidarity Black Women and the Politics of Group Consciousness

Black women have been credited for Democratic wins in a number of recent consequential elections. Yet outside of the post-election glow, Black women's interests tend not to attract a great deal of attention from politicians, media, or the public more broadly. In Intersectional Solidarity, Chaya Y. Crowder looks at the question of what prompts people to prioritize issues that affect Black women, and when? In particular, she challenges the notion that racial or gender consciousness alone shape political preferences and instead argues that intersectional group consciousness shapes political behavior. Crowder argues that a combination of race, gender, sexuality, and class-based consciousness influences political behavior, particularly when it comes to issues that affect individuals at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities. Further, she introduces the idea of "intersectional solidarity," informed by work in social psychology, political science, and Black feminist theory. Crowder applies intersectional solidarity to all people, regardless of their race, gender, or sexuality, but she uses it particularly to explore what groups demonstrate solidarity with Black women, and why. Intersectional Solidarity demonstrates that in order to fully understand how people come to care about issues that affect Black women, scholars are required to ask new questions.

Chaya Y. Crowder is an Assistant Professor at Loyola Marymount University in the Department of Political Science and International Relations. She received her PhD from the Department of Politics at Princeton University where she also received certificates in African-American Studies and Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Dr. Crowder's research and teaching interests include political behavior, race and ethnicity politics, social media and American politics as well as gender and American politics. She uses an intersectional approach in her research to explore the ways that attention to race, gender and sexuality have differential effects on political behavior.