Intersectionality In Postcolonial Contexts: Race, Gender, And Power
Keywords:
Intersectionality, Postcolonial Theory, Race, Gender, Power, Subalternity, Decolonial FeminismAbstract
In modern postcolonial studies, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the systems of inequality and marginalization cannot be comprehensively explained using single types of identity as race, gender, class, and colonial power often work in a systemic and mutually supporting way. Intersectionality has become an important analysis tool within this intellectual culture to understand the multifaceted lives of individuals and communities in the colonial past and modern structures of domination. The current paper critically looks at the changing nature of intersectionality and postcolonial discourse particularly looking at the interplay of race, gender, and power within the context of literary and cultural representation. Using a conceptual review approach, the research methodically examines peer-reviewed and Scopus-indexed literature published between 1981 and 2026 in large academic databases. A preliminary search yielded 127 studies with 38 studies meeting the predefined inclusion criteria and were included in thematic synthesis. Thematic patterns that are identified in the course of the analysis are the construction of race and gender by the colonial power, structural oppression, the representation of subalterns, epistemic violence, culture of resistance, and decolonial feminist interventions. The results indicate that, despite the fact that the extant body of research has made much progress in terms of intersectionality in sociology, migration research and institutional studies, there is a lack of comparative literary analysis within the post colonial areas. The research will add to the existing scholarship by revealing the major gaps in both theoretical and methodological perspectives as well as suggesting the coherent conceptual framework to the further intersectional analysis in postcolonial literary criticism
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