Beyond Gender Binaries uses a feminist, intersectional, and invitational approach to understanding identities and how they relate to communication. Taking readers outside the familiar binary constructions of gender and identity, Cindy L. Griffin addresses—through a feminist intersectional lens—communication, identity, power and privilege, personhood and citizenship, safety in public and private spaces, and hegemony and colonialism. Twelve chapters focus on critical learning through careful exploration of key terms and concepts. Griffin illustrates these with historical and contemporary examples and provides concrete guides to intersectional approaches to communication. This textbook highlights not just the ways individuals, systems, structures, and institutions use communication to privilege particular identities discursively and materially, but also the myriad ways that communication can be used to disrupt privilege and respectfully acknowledge the nonbinary and intersectional nature of every person’s identity.
Key features include:- Intersectional approaches to explaining and understanding identities and communication are the foundation of each chapter and inform the presentation of information throughout the book.
- Contemporary and historical examples are included in every chapter, highlighting the intersectional nature of identity and the role of communication in our interactions with other people.
- Complex and challenging ideas are presented in clear, respectful, and accessible ways throughout the book.
Table of Content
Acknowledgments
List of Guides to Communication
Part I: Conceptual Foundations of Intersectionality
1 Intersectional Definitions of Identity and Communication
2 Intersectional Explorations of Discourses of Rights
3 Intersectional Approaches to Privilege and Its Impact on Communication
Part II Feminist Intersectional Orientations to Rights
4 Intersectional Approaches to Personhood and Citizenship
5 Intersectional Approaches to Safety in Public Spaces
6 Intersectional Approaches to Safety in Private Spaces
7 Intersectional Discourses for Talking about Sexual Violence
8 Intersectional Approaches to Spaces for Learning
9 Intersectional Approaches to Workplace Injustices
Part III Intersectionality and Structures of Power
10 Hegemony and Structures of Power
11 Discourses of Colonialism and Colonization
12 Communicating through Feminist and Intersectional Lenses
References
Index
About the author
Cindy L. Griffin is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Communication Studies at Colorado State University. She has authored, coauthored, and edited seven books and numerous articles on communication, persuasive and invitational rhetoric, feminism, intersectionality, and civility.