A Letter from the Interim Director
Welcome to the website for the Institute for Intersectionality Studies (IIS) at the University of Alberta! IIS is a new, interdisciplinary hub dedicated to advancing and mobilizing intersectional approaches to research, teaching, policy, and practice.
Intersectionality is a theory, politics, and methodology that emerged from black feminist scholarship and activism in the United States. It is a vital framework for research focused on understanding the perspectives of people who are multiply marginalized. Intersectionality focuses on how structures of oppression work together to shape experience, knowledge, identity, institutions, practices, and relationships. An intersectional approach seeks to understand the co-constitutive and mutually reinforcing relationship between various forms of oppression in specific contexts.
IIS is a hub for the development and support of initiatives that use an intersectional framework to address important issues in our world and, in so doing, to contribute to the realization of a more just, equitable, and inclusive society.
Three goals that guide our work:
- Mobilizing an intersectional analysis by bringing together interdisciplinary scholarly knowledge and community expertise.
- Advancing intersectional research and networks in Canada and internationally.
- Creating spaces for intersectional training and education in academic and non-academic communities.
Whether you are a researcher, a student, a business professional, a policymaker, or part of a social organization, we invite you to join us in this important work, subscribe to our newsletter, and attend our events.
Sincerely yours,
Kim Q. Hall
Interim Director, Institute for Intersectionality Studies
University of Alberta