TURNING TOWARD INTERSECTIONALITY IN SOCIAL MOVEMENT RESEARCH*

Abstract

This opening essay introduces Mobilization’s twenty-fifth anniversary issue on intersectionality and social movement research. We reference several works in the field that offer insights into the multiplicity of iterations, practices, and attempts to do intersectionality at the level of social movements, mass mobilization and movement research. We discuss how the new inward focus among many practitioners in the field often reveals the dilemma of intersectionality studies, which was reflected in the breadth of submissions to this special issue. We review how the studies in this issue specifically focus on the co-constructions of relationships and intersections of categories, and reflect on how the editors’ crossdisciplinary collaboration shaped this important collection of research.