In a September 24, 2015, article in the Washington Post, Kimberlé ?Crenshaw established the parameters and purpose of Intersectionality in the following manner. Intersectionality is an analytic sensibility, ?a way of thinking about identity and its relationship to power?. Originally articulated on behalf of black women, the term brought to light the invisibility of many constituents within groups that claim them as members, but often fail to represent them. Intersectional erasures [for example, ignoring that Black women have additional societal concerns that Caucasian women do not] are not exclusive to black women. People of color within LGBTQ movements; girls of color in the fight against the school-to-prison pipeline; women within immigration movements; trans women within feminist movements; and people with disabilities fighting police abuse — all face vulnerabilities that reflect the intersections of racism, sexism, class oppression, transphobia, able-ism and more. Intersectionality has given many advocates a way to frame their circumstances and to fight for their visibility and inclusion. Using a close, careful, thoughtful, and plentiful analysis of Americanah, as it is reflective of real and often marginalized voices of women, make an argument that intersectionality is or is not a useful or fair tool for understanding the complexity of social concerns in our society, which must happen before reform can be considered.
