From Buzzword to Critical Psychology: An Invitation to Take Intersectionality Seriously

Abstract In this paper, I introduce a framework that invites psychologists to take intersectionality seriously. First, I revisit some primary tools of intersectional analysis and underscore their relevance to critical training. I then sketch out a flexible typology of what intersectionality is and, more consequentially, what it is not. Next, I consider how intersectionality can help to reimagine the relationships between complementary and competing paradigms in multicultural feminist theory. Finally, I extend Cole’s three-question framework for intersectional research in psychology to develop practical questions that might deepen psychology’s engagement with intersectionality at the level of critical pedagogy.