Intersectionality and the spatiality of emotions in feminist research

Abstract

In intersectionality studies, the lived experience of inequalities has been a central concern since its origins. Crenshaw referred to Black women’s experiences of oppression as the phenomenon to be studied and the reason why new theoretical tools, such as intersectionality, were needed. Here I approach intersectionality and lived experience from an emotional and geographic perspective, focusing on how spatiality is lived and constructed through emotions and on their role in (re)producing intersectional dynamics. I rely on Ahmed’s (Feminist Theory, Vol. 8 [2007], 149–68) conceptualization of (dis)comforts and the inhabitability of places by different bodies to show the genuinely spatial character of emotions. Applying the conceptualization to an intersectional framework, I develop a differentiation of (dis)comforts in relation to geometries of power and argue that emotions and their spatialities can be used as pointers to intersectional inequalities. I illustrate the theoretical proposals through the Relief Maps as a tool for the collection, analysis, and visualization of the social, geographic, and emotional dimensions of intersectional inequalities and reflect on how feminist research methods could consider emotions for studying intersectional dynamics.