This week on Women on the Line, we hear a speech by social theorist and activist Professor Patricia Hill Collins on why intersectionality matters. This talk was recorded at the Activism at the Margins conference organised by RMIT University.  

Professor Patricia Hill Collins is Distinguished University Professor of Sociology Emerita at the University of Maryland, College Park and Charles Phelps Taft Professor Emerita of African American Studies at the University of Cincinnati. Professor Collins has taught at several institutions, held editorial positions with professional journals, lectured widely in the United States and internationally, served in many capacities in professional organizations, and has acted as consultant for a number of community organizations. In 2008, she became the 100th President of the American Sociological Association, the first African American woman elected to this position in the organization’s 104-year history. 

In this speech, Professor Collins explores how intersectionality might inform new understandings of political solidarity within historically subordinated communities that are involved in activist projects.