THE INTERSECTIONAL PERSPECTIVE IN FEMINIST THEORY: EPISTEMOLOGICAL SHIFTS AND IMPACTS ON RESEARCH

Abstract

In the early twentieth century, Virginia Woolf's literary work gained prominence within the feminist movement by exposing her reflections on the condition of women in the society of her time. Later, in the United States, Black feminist thinkers such as bell hooks, June Jordan, Audre Lorde, Patricia Hill Collins, and Angela Davis advocated for a renewal of feminist thought, calling for broader theoretical frameworks capable of addressing diverse experiences of oppression. Within this context, intersectionality emerged as a key analytical perspective and was progressively expanded to encompass a wider range of social issues, adding greater complexity to feminist critical theory. Although developed in distinct historical and geographical contexts, these perspectives share a common concern: demonstrating that seemingly universal categories may conceal specific experiences and reproduce forms of exclusion when left unquestioned. Thus, the critiques advanced by Black, Indigenous, Latin American, and decolonial feminists not only demanded inclusion within an already established theoretical framework but also provided feminism with a continuous tool for questioning the very foundations upon which that framework was built. In this way, the intersectional perspective profoundly transforms research practices, just as it transformed feminist theory itself. The constant interrogation promoted by intersectionality enriches the analytical potential of research without necessarily displacing its object of study, but rather by broadening the range of categories through which that object can be understood and analyzed.