Examining Student Conceptualizations of Intersectional Identities Across Global Contexts via Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA)

Authors

Vinay R. Mallikaarjun, Usama Mahmud, Sharon M. Ravitch

Published

October 22, 2023

Intersectional identity theory, also known as intersectionality, asserts that an individual’s unique combination of identities both mediates and is mediated by their sociocultural contexts, and is thus a valuable theoretical framework for exploring identity. However, while intersectionality has been largely applied within USA contexts to explore intersections of race, gender, and class, its applicability to non-USA contexts remains largely unexplored. We interviewed high school students in the USA and Pakistan to understand their conceptualizations of intersectional identities with regard to their broader life experiences as well as within the context of their educational experiences. In this paper, we analyze ten of these interviews through a quantitative ethnographic-epistemic network analysis (QE-ENA) approach to identify connections made by participants between specific aspects of identity within their conceptualizations. Our results suggest that participants from different country groups emphasize and connect different aspects of identity and point towards the need to better contextualize intersectional identity theory for non-Western global contexts, alongside broader implications for applications of intersectionality within further global research as well as the efficacious nature of QE-ENA to analyze issues of intersectionality.

Quantitative ethnography combined with epistemic network analysis (QE-ENA), used to examine connections between aspects of identity in interview accounts.

The authors report that participants from different country groups emphasize and connect different aspects of identity. They suggest that intersectional identity theory needs stronger contextualization for non-Western global contexts.