Over the years I have argued that we can learn much more about intersectionality by understanding intersectionality not as a thing, but a way of seeing, thinking and doing — a way of talking back to the limited conceptions of social power that constrain our ability to take meaningful transformative action.
In November 2018, CIJ came together to celebrate its one year anniversary in a big community gathering and open space event. Activists and community leaders from across Europe convened in Berlin for a joyful, empowering event that connected us, helped unite our communities, and created ideas and strategy for the coming year.
It has been a year since the inauguration conference! CIJ has been thriving and growing since then, let's take a look back at the wonderful start into CIJ's first year.
CIJ's Executive Director Dr. Emilia Roig questions in this article written for the Völkerrechtsblog whether intersectionality has lost its political meaning and transformative power in Europe. She claims that "the gradual erasure of race from intersectionality by European feminist scholars has had far-reaching consequences for the fight for racial justice in Europe. It has classified “intersectionality” as a sub-discipline of gender studies and feminism, leaving out the political claims of racialized women."
CIJ's Associated Expert and Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute Cengiz Barskanmaz elaborates in this article written for the Völkerrechtsblog how the framing of race in the German context is intrinsically linked to the legal responses to race-based discrimination and inequality. He argues that we need to reframe the way we think and analyse race and law in Europe in order to promote effective legal protection against racial discrimination and other related forms of discrimination.
CIJ's Associated Experts Prof. Hourya Bentouhami and Prof. Mathias Möschel launched the first book on Critical Race Theory in French. Executive Director Dr. Emilia Roig contributed to the book with a text on colorblindness and affirmative action in the French context.
CIJ's Associated Expert Stefanie C. Boulila co-authored with Christiane Carri an article on the racialization of sexual violence in Germany. They explain why it is detrimental to feminist agendas at large. They contend that "Cologne illustrated the difficulty of addressing systemic injustices in a climate that is both committed to the post-feminist contention that sexism is a reminiscence of a past and that anti-racism is a distraction from ‘the real dangers’ that immigration brings about."
