CentreLGS Conference: Theorising Intersectionality
Saturday 21 - Sunday 22 May 2005 @ Keele University
Abstracts:
To view participants abstracts, please click on the alphabetical
links below (abstracts are listed by surname), or download
the full list of abstracts in Microsoft Word format.
A - B
| C - D
| E - G
| H - J
| K | L
- P | Q
- R | S
| T - V
| W - Z
Anna Carline
Liverpool John Moores University, UK
Paper Title: 'Race, Gender and Women Who Kill:
Queering Identity'
Abstract: This paper aims to analyse
the law’s construction of identity within cases
of women who kill their abusive partners and will pay
particular attention to the importance of racial and ethnic
differences between women. Whilst comparing the outcomes
of two cases: Zoora Shah and Diana Butler, the paper will
draw upon the work of queer theorist Judith Butler in
order to deconstruct the category woman and to examine
the gendered and racial scripts which must be repeated
in order for a female defendant to be constituted as an
intelligible gender. Zoora Shah is a Pakistani woman who
was convicted for murder, whereas Diana Butler is a white
British woman who was, on retrial, convicted for manslaughter
on the grounds of diminished responsibility. It will be
argued that whereas Zoora Shah was constructed as an unintelligible
gender, Diana Butler avoided the murder conviction as
she conformed to the pre-existing culturally accepted
scripts.
*******************
Fiona de Londras
University College Cork, Ireland
Paper Title: Recognising Intersectionality: A
Pre-Requisite to Supplying Effective Legal Remedies to
Women Victims of Genocide
Abstract: This paper will explore the
notion of an effective remedy following genocide and,
in particular, the need for law to change in order to
appreciate the changing nature of experiences of genocide.
In order to provide an effective remedy to genocide the
law must both provide a remedy to the individual victim,
and attempt to provide a remedy for the peopled State
or the collective consciousness. This paper will consider
the role that the theory of intersectionality can play
in this process through the recognition of the reasons
why women are subjected to sexual violence as genocide,
i.e. as a means to destroy a certain group, thereby recognising
the truth of individuals’ experiences of genocide
and allowing them to tell their ‘violence stories’
(Cobb, 1991), and identifying the structures and societal
relations that need to be amended in order to prevent
such incidents reoccurring and help to reassert the Rule
of Law thereby providing a remedy to the State.
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Maneesha Deckha
University of Victoria, Canada
Paper Title: 'Intersectionality and Animals:
The Salience of Species Difference (or 'Fur is a Feminist
Issue!')'
Abstract: Intersectionality has not
prompted a feminist critique of anthropocentricism. If
intersectionality instructs that experiences are mediated
by multiple and mutually constitutive forces such as race,
gender, sexual orientation, etc., why is “species”
typically absent from this list? Intersectionality, as
a theory that underscores respect for differences, has
not led feminists to expand their ethical horizons to
include animals - beings excluded for their “difference.”
This paper argues that a commitment to intersectionality
demands feminist attention to animals. Using the example
of the commodification of women’s sexuality, it
reveals species as a social construct that intersects
with gender, race, and sexuality to exploit women and
animals alike. The paper then explores the unchartered
area in theorising intersectionality of what justice entails
where the interests of marginalised groups (e.g. women,
animals) conflict. The paper analyses the fur debate to
reveal its intensely intersectional dimensions and identifies
a just policy response to it.
