Theory
Overview
This section has resources on three theories that have become important for understanding and working on racial equity: Racial Identity Development Theory, Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality.
Racial Identity Development Theory
Racial Identity Development Theory discusses how people in various racial groups and with multiracial identities form their particular self-concept. It also describes some typical phases in remaking that identity based on learning and awareness of systems of privilege and structural racism, cultural and historical meanings attached to racial categories, and factors operating at the larger socio-historical level (e.g. globalization, technology, immigration, and increasing multiracial population). (From, C. Wijeyesinghe and B. Jackson, New Perspective on Racial Identity Development: Integrating Emerging Frameworks, New York University Press, 2012.)
- Asian American Identity: Shared Racial Status and Political Context
- Racial Identity Development
- Talking About Race, Learning About Racism: The Application of Racial Identity Development Theory in the Classroom,
- Race Matters: Implementing Racial Identity Development Theories in the Classroom
- What Anti-racists Stand to Gain from Greater Class Awareness
- Racial Identity Development Facilitator Guide
- Movement-Building Practice: Margins to Center
- Exploring Racial Identity Sample Agenda
- Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources
- Summary of the Stages of Racial Identity Development
Critical Race Theory
Critical Race Theory is an area of scholarship that looks particularly at how laws and power create “race,” and argues for applying a racialized lens (rather than a color-blind one) with a focus on looking at the role of white privilege and white supremacy in order to understand current societies based on those laws.
- What is Critical Race Theory?
- Critical Race Theory, Race Equity, and Public Health: Toward Antiracism Praxis
- Critical Race Theory
- The Scholarship of Derrick Bell & Critical Race Theory
- Women of Color and Feminism: A History Lesson and Way Forward
- Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced and Underprotected
Intersectionality
Intersectionality as a field of study looks at the relationships among different forms of oppressions, and highlights the importance of understanding and acting against their collective and interactive effects. As Doug Meyer describes in the Gender and Society journal, “The theory of Intersectionality also suggests that discrete forms and expressions of oppression actually shape, and are shaped by, one another. Thus, in order to fully understand the racialization of oppressed groups, one must investigate the ways in which racializing structures, social processes, and social representations (or ideas purporting to represent groups and group members in society) are shaped by gender, class, sexuality, etc.”
Each of these theories makes important arguments and adds useful information to an understanding of racial equity.
- A Primer on Intersectionality
- False Promises: How The Right Deploys Homophobia To Win Support From African-Americans
- Race and Class: An Intersectional Approach
- ClassMatters.org
- Intersectionality: Matrix of Domination
- A List of Privilege Lists
- Violence & Silence
- Better Together: Research Findings on the Relationship Between Racial Justice Organizations and LGBT Communities
- Leading at the Intersections: An Introduction to the Intersectional Approach Model for Policy & Social Change
- Shared Oppressions
- Standing Together, Coming Out for Racial Justice: An Anti-Racist Organizational Development Toolkit for LGBT Equality Groups and Activists
- Public Opinion and Discourse on the Intersection of LGBT Issues and Race
- Towards a Methodology to Identify Converging Forms of Everyday Discrimination
- Intersectionality: A Tool for Gender and Economic Justice
- Complicating “White Privilege”: Race, Poverty, and the Nature of the Knapsack
- Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color
- Instructors' Guide: Free Resources on Intersectionality, Critical Race Theory across Disciplines
- The Combahee River Collective Statement
- Intersectionality: Moving Women’s Health Research and Policy Forward.
- Women of Color and Feminism: A History Lesson and Way Forward
- Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced and Underprotected
- The Charleston Imperative: Why Feminism & Antiracism Must Be Linked
- The Activist Class Cultures Kit
- Power In Partnerships: Building Connections at the Intersections of Racial Justice & LGBTQ Movements
- The New Now: Working Together for Social Change
- Power in Partnership: Building Connections at the Intersections of Racial Justice and LGBTQ Movement
- Tribal Resolutions and Codes to Support Two Spirit & LGBT Justice in Indian Country
- #RaceAnd Explores the Intersections Between Race and Tribal Sovereignty, Gender, Religion and More
- Intersectional Gender Analysis
- Intersectionality 101
- Trans Women of Color Collective
- I Am Muslim and I Am Black Lives Matter
- Addressing Masculine Norms to Improve Life Outcomes for Young Black Men: Why We Still Can’t Wait
- Gender Norms: A Key to Improving Health & Wellness Among Black Women & Girls
- 14 Characteristics of an Intersectional Mass Movement
- The Urgency of Intersectionality
- Tribal Equity Toolkit 3.0: Tribal Resolutions and Codes to Support Two Spirit & LGBT Justice in Indian Country
- A Gender Equity Network: Building Power at the Intersections of Reproductive Justice, Transgender Justice and Immigrant Justice
- 14 Characteristics of an Intersectional Mass Movement
- Ten Tips for Putting Intersectionality into Practice
- How To Do Intersectionality
- Ending Sexual Violence: An Intersectional Approach
- Karen Nakamura on Disability Studies and Race
- Intersectionality Matters with Kimberlé Crenshaw
- The Intersectionality Wars
- The Harriet Tubman Collective
- Black History Month: What Is Intersectionality?
- Center for Intersectional Justice
- Intersectionality isn’t just a win-win; it’s the only way out
- 3 Examples That Show Even White Privilege Needs to be Viewed Intersectionally
