Intersectionality: Minority Women Self-Representation in The Digital Realm: Know the GAP gender lectures

Intersectionality, within the European academic context, has been widely used both as a theory of identity as well as a method to analyze processes of power and inequality, often in the context related to minority women, to examine and explain conditions of conflict between cultural and religious practices of minority groups deemed discriminatory with minority and human rights. It has also been referred to as a paradigm, a human rights policy, a statistical tool, and a political project among others. The development of the concept has led to numerous attempts to map complex identities, emphasizing how social identity markers such as race, ethnic origin, gender, religion, class, sexuality, and others are experienced in relation to each other. As a group, minority women face multiple barriers in realizing their rights due to their status as both women and members of an ethnic, cultural, national, or religious minority group. International and minority rights instruments are often fragmented: gender neutral or minority neutral or both. Further, minority women may additionally face discrimination based on their socio-economic, cultural, and religious backgrounds.

Intersectionality is useful as both a theoretical framework and tool for practical analysis. This is specifically the case in the experiences of minority women holding multiple minoritised identities and who interact with power structures that have historically and contextually marginalised them to the periphery of the dominant society. The digital sphere provides a space for minorities to empower themselves, while also exposing them to discrimination and online harm. The effects of online harm on minority groups can cause additional traumatic experiences, which affect their experience of the digital realm and how they construct their identity(ies) online. This talk first explores the historical and theoretical underpinnings of intersectionality, then explores the uses of an intersectional framework for studying minority women in the digital realm and finally applies intersectional analysis to a case study of minority women and self-representation in the digital realm, therefore showing how intersectionality can provide a critical framework to connect digital self-representation and minority identity. Ultimately, it aims to capture the digital processes of identity production in intersectional terms, namely in relation to minority and indigenous identity(ies), representation, discourse and power.

More about the speaker

Jody Metcalfe, PhD is a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Art and History at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Until October 2024, Jody worked as a researcher at the European Centre for Minority Issues in Flensburg, Germany where she focused on the impacts of digital platform governance, artificial intelligence and digital harm on identity formation of ethnocultural and national minorities in Europe. Additionally, she focused on how minority women create, challenge and build self-representation in the digital sphere. Her other research interests include cultural identity formation, identity construction, cultural representation theories, intersectionality, postcolonialism, transitional justice and processes of racialization.

Jody holds a double PhD in English Literature and Cultural Studies from the University of Bayreuth and is the first person to hold a PhD in Intersectionality Studies from the Doctoral College of Intersectionality Studies at the University of Bayreuth. Her previous studies were completed at the University of Cape Town (South Africa), from which she holds a MPhil in Justice and Transformation in Political Science funded and completed as a Cannon Collins Scholar, a BSocSci (Hons.) in Gender and Transformation from the African Gender Institute and a BSocSci in Political Science and Gender Studies.

Jody has also worked as a Critical Race Theory Fellow at the African American Policy Forum (United States), as a researcher at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (South Africa) and in various teaching and consulting capacities at the University of Cape Town (South Africa).

Know the GAP gender lectures

The building blocks of Gender Studies: foundational concepts to navigate a complex field of study

Since 2019, the WTI Gender Team has been organizing the Know the GAP gender lecture series. This series has been a source of fundamental insights on gender studies and contributed to the general debate on these issues.

The interest in this complex and variegated area is continuously increasing, and the perspectives from which it is studied are numerous and all interconnected. From sociology to law, from political science to linguistics, from international relations to literature and philosophy, gender studies epistemologically inform virtually any other field of research.

At the same time, gender studies call for action, thus providing a concrete contribution to the evolution of political systems and societies towards more equality and inclusivity.

The present lecture series aims to provide some instruments to understand such a complexity stemming from increasing awareness of and research on gender issues, as well as manifold action at the international and domestic levels. To do so, this year’s series focuses on the key words of gender studies, in order to give some fundamental points of reference and build an updated glossary of this area of study.

Such a timely endeavour is carried out thanks to the participation of prominent guest speakers in gender studies, whose expertise mirrors the variety of perspectives from which this area can be approached. Every lecture deals with a specific key word. The latter have been selected after an analysis of academic literature and international soft law in the area of gender studies and are meant to constitute foundational concepts and issues regarding this field. Some of the key words constitute basic theoretical notions of gender studies: key concepts such as “feminism and eco-feminism”, “empowerment”, “intersectionality”, “gender migration”, “gender equality” and “sorority” will be addressed. Other key words refer to the concrete manifestations and applications of those concepts in societal and political systems as well as their embedment in legal orders. Accordingly, “gender mainstreaming”, “non-discrimination”, “CEDAW”, “gender quotas”, “participation in public life”, “gender and conflict”, “reproductive rights” will be dealt with in the series.

Together, they all give justice to the complexity of the field, while at the same time providing the tools to navigate through it.

The lectures are meant to be an essential resource for students who are approaching this field, but also for academics and civil society members willing to contribute to a collective effort in building an updated and at the same time accessible glossary of gender studies. In this sense, the lectures are purposedly organized to leave enough time for discussion. After a presentation of the subject, in the second part of the lecture the room will be open for comments and questions from the audience.

The gender lecture series is organized by Prof. Elisa Fornalé who is leading the SNSF-funded research project ‘Gender Equality in the Mirror (GEM): Clothing the Invisibility of Women’s Participation at International Level’ housed at the World Trade Institute, University of Bern.

Participation is open to the public and free of charge.

For further information please email Dr. Nicolò Alessi