Finding Clues at the Intersection: Reflections from Two Choral Educators

Abstract

Civil rights advocate and law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality, defining it in 2020 as “a lens, a prism, for seeing the way in which various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other. We tend to talk about race inequality as separate from inequality based on gender, class, sexuality or immigrant status. What’s often missing is how some people are subject to all of these, and the experience is not just the sum of its parts.” This lens has also expanded to pedagogy and practice, especially as we engage with our responsibility as educators in ensuring that through our content area, we establish equity-centered learning environments for all. In this article, we offer our personal insights as to how intersectionality interrogates our philosophy and practice within the choral arts both within our own identities and the identities of our students.