intersectional liberatory research (Essay Sample)

Intersectional Liberatory Research Student Name Name of Institution Instructor Date Intersectional Liberatory Research The society happens to be in social categorizations which are highly interlocked such as gender, class, race etc. These social categorizations are known to create interdependent and overlapping systems of disadvantage and discrimination. Intersectional Liberatory research is an approach where groups, social problems, a person etc are conceptualized from the different points of how they are affected by certain disadvantages. Intersectional approach employs different angles of view and brings in the accounts of overlapping identities of people as well as experiences so as to have a clear understanding of the prejudices which such people face. The intersectional theory denotes that people are usually disadvantaged by various cradles of oppression which could include different identity markers such as their religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, class, race etc. For instance, Intersectionality will recognize that ‘black’ and ‘woman’ will not exist independently of each other and each actually informs the other and creates a complexity of convergence in oppression. The intersectional liberality approach towards analysis asserts that the people who are faced with intersecting issues of identity and particularly from marginalized categorizations should have their perspectives included in research in order to avoid nuance and complexities. Intersectional liberal research deals with identification of logical fallacies, recognition of propaganda, integration of intuitive and rational knowing. This approach is important in that it helps to avoid dichotomous or binary thinking in order to be able to better predict variations and determine the people’s needs and thus lead to conclusive and inclusive research solutions. This paper explores on four selected articles in order to bring out more on intersectional liberatory approach. According to Patricia Hill Collins’ Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory, Intersectionality is viewed in connection with the social theory and it is seen as an emerging canon to social inequality and it is also placed on a position which is complimentary and contentious. Whereas Collins celebrates intersectional heterogeneity, she also invites self-reflection by asserting that politics and power have the capability of constraining knowledge and such constraints should be resisted. Intersectionality is viewed as an important intellectual, ethical, political and transformative tool for empowering the people and should be permitted to live to its full potential. The book classifies Intersectionality into a cognitive architecture by giving it definitions as a metaphor to understanding the link of the various forms of oppressions. It is also seen as a heuristic or a tool for solving social issues, as a paradigm which has got rationality, complexity, social context, power, social justice and social inequality. By contrasting different theoretical movements – Francophone, British cultural studies and Frankfurt school; Collins traces that there is need to consider the critical theorizing of oppressed groups in society. Intersectionality takes its roots from different knowledge on resistance – postcolonial theory, feminist and critical race. Intersectionality must be critical of political prejudices within existing methodologies through dialogical approaches in different power and academic ranks. Further, the book notes that Intersectionality has the mandate of cultivating a wide scope of interpretation which draws the self-reflections of the people’s experiences as good ways of knowing. Social action and theory are seen to be in an inextricable connectivity where existential freedom should be seen as a theoretical idea of critical praxis. Collins is critical that the potential of developing Intersectionality as a critical social theory lies on answering questions of the manner in which we know what we claim to know, the possible social actions in the social inequalities which surround our lives as well as our responses to the social injustices confronting us.[Patricia Hill Collins, Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory (Durham, NC: : Duke University Press., 2019), 152] [Hill Collins, Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory, 288.] [Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Brave New World Revisited (Random House of Canada, 2007), 29] Another article by Edward Bernays ‘Propaganda’ was composed by Bernays who used Sigmund Freud’s psychological thinking that people have got a certain unconscious mind and thus they are subject to be influenced without their knowledge. Bernays advanced intersectional liberatory research by pioneering the scientific technique which is used politically to manipulate and shape public opinion which he referred to as ‘engineering of consent’. Powerful propaganda apparatus is used and advanced via the media in manipulating and shaping how the public will see things for profit and political power. In First World War, Bernays was critical personnel in the Committee of Public Information which advertised and sold war to the Americans as a way of making the world a good place for democracy. The committee actually became the base upon which strategies of marketing future wars are referencing from. The author notes that there is an invisible government usually run by invisible governors which will hold on to power in every democracy and they will always organize the opinion of the masses. This invisible government are the leaders who people listen to in order to guide the way they think regarding important issues which is the real political power in democracies. The author sees another set of people who he theorizes as the ‘new propagandists’. They are more organized and sophisticated since they influence people on the basis of group psychology by use of the relationships, identities, loyalties and making the people dependent on them. Bernays says that society is thousands of overlapping groups such as informal groups, social and political groups, business groups, religious groups and interest-based groups. These groups are easily influenced by reaching out to their trusted leaders. Bernays got overwhelmed with the world propaganda and switched off to ‘public relations’. It is this PR which helps businesses to communicate the values they share. Though PR is propaganda, today there are PR consultant firms advising businesses on how to keep their reputation, maintain value of stock, and attract more new customers and how to beat competitors. People want to do business with those who they share similar values. The author concludes that propaganda will survive because the methods of communication are always changing but the human psychology does not.[Edward Bernays, Propaganda (New York: IG Publishing. Bell hooks. (2010): Teaching Critical Thinking. New York: Routledge., 1955), 36] [Edward Bernays, Propaganda, 107] [Edward, 34] Another important article is ‘Sensuous Knowledge: A black feminist approach for everyone’ by Minna Salami. In this book, Minna Salami draws her feminist artistic traditions with an Africa-centric mind in order to help the people to discover the invigorating manner of experiencing the world in new dimensions. The author enquires very closely on the power and privilege systems which have dominated the manner in which people have employed in their thinking for centuries and which have caused a lot of division, damage and unexplainable prejudice among the world populations. Sensuous knowledge translates to the collection of provoking perspectives and thoughts or even propaganda which lead to questions which when answered define how people view themselves, their history and their world. Salami defines oppression and what me...