Cross-Sectioning Angela Davis: intersectional and historical analysis of black womanhood and transvestism in contemporary times

Abstract

This essay introduces the life and work of philosopher Angela Davis and how she inspired my academic and activist experiences as a trans and transvestite woman in her writings, and why I chose to cite this author in this work. This essay understands the concept of intersectionality in her work from a feminist perspective and the mass incarceration of prisons. It problematizes the issue of capitalist production as an oppressive and exclusionary system, especially for black women, and as the main cause of divergence and tensions between these same subalternized groups. It also studies the historical moments of dominant groups that allied themselves with the dominated for a certain social objective, but generating contradictory relationships. I analyze my narratives as a trans/transvestite woman in the peripheral and academic environment and focus on being in these spaces as an unwanted body, as well as the ill-fated ideal of femininity. It concludes with the issue of the so-called “social contract” that naturalizes structural racism as well as “punitivism”.