Pursuing Intersectionality, Unsettling Dominant Imaginaries - In-depth

In this review of Pursuing Intersectionality, Unsettling Dominant Imaginaries the reviewer finds a rigorous, interdisciplinary examination best suited for readers seeking a deep, critical engagement with intersectionality. Vivian M. May synthesizes existing literatures and traces how the concept has been misunderstood, resisted, or depoliticized, making the book valuable for scholars and activists who want a careful, historically informed critique rather than a simple primer. The book's strongest attribute is its sustained argument that intersectionality is often undone by both supporters and critics, which prompts readers to reconsider common applications.

Key Features

• Interdisciplinary synthesis: May brings together literature across fields to clarify how intersectionality has been constructed and contested, helping readers locate debates in multiple disciplines.
• Historical tracing: The text maps histories and practices that show patterns of misapplication, allowing readers to see how present uses developed from earlier misunderstandings.
• Theoretical clarity: The author offers sustained conceptual work that distinguishes legitimate uses of intersectionality from forms that depoliticize or distort it.
• Critical examples: Concrete instances of resistance and misapplication illustrate how intersectionality can be undermined, offering cautionary lessons for scholars and practitioners.
• Accessible prose: Though intellectually serious, the writing remains readable for graduate students and informed general readers who want a focused critique.

Who It's For

Pursuing Intersectionality is best for graduate students, researchers, and politically engaged readers who already have a basic familiarity with intersectionality and want deeper theoretical and historical insight. It serves as a corrective text for those applying intersectional ideas in policy, scholarship, or advocacy and who seek to avoid superficial or depoliticized uses.

Readers seeking an introductory how-to guide or a textbook of classroom exercises may want a more pedagogical volume; this book assumes some prior knowledge and aims at critique and conceptual refinement rather than basic definitions or step-by-step practice.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• The book provides a comprehensive interdisciplinary synthesis that clarifies contested meanings.
• May's historical perspective highlights how misapplications emerge, which is useful for careful scholarship.
• Theoretical precision helps readers distinguish robust from weakened forms of intersectionality.

Cons

• The text presumes prior familiarity, so it is less suitable as an introductory primer for newcomers.

Specifications

Our Verdict

Pursuing Intersectionality is a thoughtful, rigorous critique that rewards readers who want to move beyond surface uses of intersectionality. Its interdisciplinary synthesis and historical attention make it good value for scholars and activists who need conceptual clarity and cautionary examples; those wanting an introductory handbook should consider a different, more pedagogical volume.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this book an introduction to intersectionality?
This book is primarily critical and synthetic rather than a basic introduction; it assumes some familiarity with the concept.

Who will benefit most from reading it?
Graduate students, researchers, and politically engaged practitioners seeking deeper theoretical and historical insight will gain the most.

Does the author provide practical guidance?
The book focuses on critique and conceptual clarity rather than step-by-step practical exercises or classroom assignments.