Light and Dark: Intersections of Gender and Race in Butler and Lugones

Finally, Katrine Smiet, in her article, “Light and Dark: Intersections of Race and Gender in Butler and Lugones,” calls attention to the fact that an intersectional perspective on gender is widely supported, but often in an additive sense – looking at gender and race, or recognizing the different experiences of white and racialized women, for instance. While these approaches are important, actually recognizing the mutual constitution and co-construction of gender and race seems to demand a different approach altogether. Where does this leave – or take – the theoretical apparatus developed in feminist philosophy? While race and coloniality do not feature prominently in Judith Butler’s early theorizations of gender, her framework in many ways is compatible with the work of postcolonial author Maria Lugones. Butler’s thinking, on the other hand, goes a step further than Lugones’ in the questioning of biological essentialism.