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Anthropology

<OpenstaxParagraph>
	When thinking about social inequalities, it is useful to conceptualize race alongside other characteristics. <OpenstaxTerm>Intersectionality</OpenstaxTerm> is the observation that one’s class, race, sexuality, age, and ability can all define and complicate experiences. The concept of intersectionality can be traced back to pre–Civil War America, when Sojourner <OpenstaxTerm>Truth</OpenstaxTerm> made her “Ain’t I a Woman” speech in 1851 at the Ohio Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio, addressing the exclusion of Black women from the fight for women’s rights. However, the term <OpenstaxEm>intersectionality</OpenstaxEm> was officially coined by <OpenstaxTerm>critical race theorist</OpenstaxTerm> and legal scholar Kimberlé <OpenstaxTerm>Crenshaw</OpenstaxTerm> (1989) in the context of discussing <OpenstaxTerm>Black feminism</OpenstaxTerm>. Crenshaw argued that the experience of being a Black woman could not be understood in independent terms of either being Black or being a woman; instead, it needed to include interactions between the identities, which often reinforce one another. Intersectionality discredits the notion that one single aspect of identity—race, for example—can capture the multidimensional nature of people’s experiences of oppression. In other words, intersectionality emphasizes the ways in which identities pertaining to features such as race, gender, and class interact to impact people’s lives.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
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	Anthropologist Faye <OpenstaxTerm>Harrison</OpenstaxTerm>, coeditor of <OpenstaxEm>African-American Pioneers in Anthropology </OpenstaxEm>(1999), has done extensive work on intersectionality. She argues that “race is always lived in class- and gender-specific ways” (Harrison 1995, 63). For instance, the lived experience of a woman of color will be different from that of a White woman. Even though they both experience oppression from patriarchal systems, a woman of color has the added intersection of race, impacted by her identity as a woman.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	Much of the work on <OpenstaxTerm>intersectionality</OpenstaxTerm> has come out of a critique of the original feminist movement, which sometimes generalized women’s experiences as monolithic (Hill Collins 2000; A. Y. Davis 1981; McCall 2005; Sacks 1989). Feminist and women’s studies scholar Chandra <OpenstaxTerm>Mohanty</OpenstaxTerm> (1984) criticized the White-middle-class-based approach of previous feminist authors, arguing not only that women of color don’t need White women to save them but that their experiences are vastly different. By incorporating race with gender and class, feminist scholars have illustrated how experiences of race are dynamic.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	In the collection of studies of race, class, and gender that occurred around the turn of the 21st century, anthropologist Leith <OpenstaxTerm>Mullings</OpenstaxTerm> (2002) developed the concept of the <OpenstaxTerm>Sojourner syndrome</OpenstaxTerm> to capture the interlocking ways in which race, class, gender, and resistance to oppression shape Black women’s bodies and biology. The Sojourner syndrome emphasizes that race, class, and gender are not necessarily multiplied to mean more oppression, but they change the ways people experience oppression. In the <OpenstaxTerm>Harlem Birthright Project</OpenstaxTerm>, funded by the <OpenstaxTerm>Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)</OpenstaxTerm> to study racial disparities in health, Mullings uses the Sojourner syndrome to argue that Black women, because of intersecting structural inequalities, are forced to do more work than either their White female or Black male counterparts, which increases their stress levels and negatively impacts their health.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	Another way intersectional identities can compound oppression is captured by the term <OpenstaxEm>misogynoir</OpenstaxEm>. <OpenstaxTerm>Misogyny</OpenstaxTerm> is the socialized prejudice against women and feminine characteristics. <OpenstaxTerm>Misogynoir</OpenstaxTerm>, a term coined by queer Black feminist Moya <OpenstaxTerm>Bailey</OpenstaxTerm>, describes the anti-Black racist misogyny that Black women specifically experience. Misogynoir is the intersection of the systems of sexism and racism experienced by Black women. More recently, Bailey has written about Black women’s digital resistance to misogynoir on YouTube, Facebook, and other online platforms (2021).
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	In addition to creating challenges to the status quo, intersectionality can also inspire creative opportunities for new perspectives and new role models. On January 20, 2021, former senator Kamala <OpenstaxTerm>Harris</OpenstaxTerm> was inaugurated as the 49th vice president of the United States. Not only is she the first female vice president and the highest-ranking female official in US history, but her ethnic and racial background makes her the first Black American and the first Asian American person to hold this office. When she broke these “<OpenstaxTerm>glass ceilings</OpenstaxTerm>” (barriers to promotion that often affect women and members of minority groups), she was celebrated as a role model for many. There is even an unofficial Twitter fan group that calls itself “<a href="https://openstax.org/r/khive-kamala-haris">The #Khive Movement</a>” as well as other pro-Harris groups inspired by her example (e.g., Mamas for Momala). Her supporters frequently cite her background as an inspiring triumph that allows for new voices representing diverse groups in our society.
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<OpenstaxParagraph>
	Overall, the Biden administration has pledged to have “the most diverse cabinet in American history” (see the “<a href="https://openstax.org/r/biden-diversity-tracker">Biden Diversity Tracker</a>”). On October 28, 2021, President Joe Biden appointed <a href="https://openstax.org/r/get-to-know-sara"> <OpenstaxTerm>Sara Minkara</OpenstaxTerm></a> as the US special advisor on international disability rights. In this foreign policy role, Minkara, who lost her eyesight at the age of seven, will promote and protect the rights of people with disabilities, again representing diverse voices of historically underrepresented groups.
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<OpenstaxFigure id="fig-00001" src="https://openstax.org/apps/archive/20240226.174525/resources/d35643ff24c9f9ab535d19efb26c6a7a9266578e" alt="Several women in business suits seated around a conference table." mediaType="image/jpeg" width="800" height="533" />
<OpenstaxFigureText width="800">
	Figure 9.8 Kamala Harris participates in a meeting on voting rights with Black women leaders on July 16, 2021. Harris is the first woman to hold the position of vice president of the United States as well as the first Black American and the first Asian American to hold this office. (credit: “V20210716LJ-0291-2-1” by Lawrence Jackson/The White House/flickr, Public Domain)
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<OpenstaxNote>
	<OpenstaxNoteTitle> Profiles in Anthropology </OpenstaxNoteTitle> <OpenstaxH3> Dr. Yolanda T. Moses 1946– </OpenstaxH3><OpenstaxFigure id="fig-00002" src="https://openstax.org/apps/archive/20240226.174525/resources/a61d1f55c942e4a2123f52103a45eea33ff87e5e" alt="Woman in a suit speaking in front of a classroom." mediaType="image/jpeg" width="800" height="480" />
	<OpenstaxFigureText width="800">
		Figure 9.9 Yolanda T. Moses (credit: “HBCUs as Sites of Global Citizenship” by Olivia Crum/Bart Everson/flickr, CC BY 2.0)
	</OpenstaxFigureText>
	<OpenstaxParagraph>
		Personal History: Yolanda <OpenstaxTerm>Moses</OpenstaxTerm> was born in Washington, DC, but spent most of her childhood in Southern California. An active participant in the civil rights movement in the 1960s, she was inspired to pursue a doctoral program in anthropology after meeting Margaret Mead.
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		Area of Anthropology: Dr. Moses is currently professor of anthropology and associate vice chancellor for diversity, excellence, and equity at the University of California, Riverside. Her research focuses on the origins of social inequalities, relying on both comparative ethnographic and survey methods. She has examined gender and class disparities in the Caribbean, East Africa, and the United States. Dr. Moses’s most recent research has focused on issues of diversity and change in universities and colleges in the United States, India, Europe, and South Africa.
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		Accomplishments in the Field: Dr. Moses has served as president of the American Anthropological Association (1995–1997), the City University of New York’s City College of New York (1993–1999), and the American Association for Higher Education (2000–2003). She received the Donna Shavlik Award for leadership and mentoring of women from the American Council on Education in 2007 and the Franz Boas Award for Exemplary Service to Anthropology from the American Anthropological Association in 2015.
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		Importance of Her Work: Dr. Moses has received numerous grants from the Ford Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the National Endowment of the Humanities. These grants have been awarded for projects examining the experiences of faculty who are women of color, questions of leadership and diversity in higher education, and, more broadly, race and human variation. She is a coauthor of <OpenstaxEm>Race: Are We So Different?</OpenstaxEm> and was influential in the RACE Project, a national public education project on race and human variation sponsored by the American Anthropological Association.
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</OpenstaxNote>

9.3.1 Intersectionality

1 What Is Anthropology?

1.1 The Study of Humanity, or "Anthropology Is Vast"

1.1.1 The Heart of Anthropology: Central Narrative and Commitments

1.1.2 Central Commitment #1: Exploring Sociocultural Diversity

1.1.3 Central Commitment #2: Understanding How Societies Hold Together

1.1.4 Central Commitment #3: Examining the Interdependence of Humans and Nature

1.2 The Four-Field Approach: Four Approaches within the Guiding Narrative

1.2.1 Biological Anthropology

1.2.2 Archaeology

1.2.3 Cultural Anthropology

1.2.4 Linguistic Anthropology

1.2.5 How the Four Fields Work Together: The Example of Race

1.3 Overcoming Ethnocentrism

1.3.1 Enculturation and Ethnocentrism

1.3.2 Primitivism and Orientalism

1.4 Western Bias in Our Assumptions about Humanity

1.4.1 Primitivism and Orientalism in Popular Culture

1.4.2 The Bias of Backwardness

1.5 Holism, Anthropology’s Distinctive Approach

1.5.1 Society as an Integrated Whole

1.5.2 Sources of Contradiction, Conflict, and Change

1.6 Cross-Cultural Comparison and Cultural Relativism

1.6.1 Relativism Is Not “Anything Goes”

1.6.2 Morality, Activism, and Cultural Relativism

1.7 Reaching for an Insider’s Point of View

1.7.1 The Challenge of Representing Others

1.7.2 Collaborative Methods of Representation

1.7.3 Working across Cultures toward Common Goals

1.7.4 Suggested Readings

2 Methods: Cultural and Archaeological

2.1 Archaeological Research Methods

2.1.1 Archaeological Techniques

2.1.2 Archaeological Dating Methods

2.2 Conservation and Naturalism

2.2.1 Early Efforts

2.2.2 Salvage Anthropology

2.2.3 Museum Collections

2.2.4 Interpretation and Voice

2.3 Ethnography and Ethnology

2.3.1 The Development of Ethnography and Ethnology

2.3.2 Perspective and Interpretation in Ethnography

2.4 Participant Observation and Interviewing

2.4.1 Participant Observation

2.4.2 Interviewing Informants

2.4.3 Ethical Considerations

2.5 Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis

2.5.1 Differences between Quantitative and Qualitative Information

2.5.2 Modeling

2.5.3 The Science of Anthropology

2.6 Collections

2.6.1 Archives

2.6.2 Three-Dimensional Collections

2.6.3 Ownership

2.6.4 Suggested Readings

3 Culture Concept Theory: Theories of Cultural Change

3.1 The Homeyness of Culture

3.2 The Winkiness of Culture

3.3 The Elements of Culture

3.3.1 Culture Is What We Make

3.3.2 Culture Is What We Do

3.3.3 Culture Is What We Think

3.4 The Aggregates of Culture

3.4.1 Symbols

3.4.2 Ritual

3.4.3 Social Structure

3.5 Modes of Cultural Analysis

3.5.1 Evolution, Adaptation, and Historical Particularism

3.5.2 Functionalism

3.5.3 Structuralism

3.5.4 Ontology

3.6 The Paradoxes of Culture

3.6.1 Paradox 1: Culture Is Continuous, but It Changes

3.6.2 Paradox 2: Culture Is Bounded but Mobile

3.6.3 Paradox 3: Culture Is Consensual but Contested

3.6.4 Paradox 4: Culture Is Shared, but It Varies

3.6.5 Suggested Readings

4 Biological Evolution and Early Human Evidence

4.1 What Is Biological Anthropology?

4.1.1 Looking to the Deep Past

4.1.2 Exploring What It Means to Be Human

4.2 What’s in a Name? The Science of Taxonomy

4.2.1 Defining the Science of Taxonomy

4.2.2 Defining a Species

4.3 It’s All in the Genes! The Foundation of Evolution

4.3.1 The Units of Life

4.3.2 Gregor Mendel and the Laws of Heredity

4.3.3 Mendelian Inheritance in Humans

4.4 Evolution in Action: Past and Present

4.4.1 Early Evolutionists and the Fixity of Species

4.4.2 Charles Darwin’s Role in Changing Views of the Natural World

4.4.3 Understanding Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection

4.5 What Is a Primate?

4.5.1 What Is a Primate?

4.5.2 Primate Behavioral Variation

4.5.3 Explaining Primate Success

4.5.4 Primate Classification and Taxonomy

4.6 Origin of and Classification of Primates

4.6.1 Understanding Concepts of Time

4.6.2 Fossils and Dating Methods

Question	Answer
the notion that characteristics such as class, race, gender sexuality, age, and ability can all define and complicate one’s experiences, and a single aspect of identity—race, for example—is insufficient to capture the multidimensional nature of people’s experiences of oppression.	intersectionality
the anti-Black racist misogyny that Black women experience.	misogynoir
the socialized prejudice against women and feminine characteristics.	misogyny
the interlocking ways in which race, class, gender, and resistance to oppression shape Black women’s bodies and biology. The Sojourner syndrome emphasizes that race, class, and gender are not necessarily multiplied to mean more oppression, but they change the ways people experience oppression.	Sojourner syndrome