Mapping the Margins of Small Places

Resumé

With inspiration from Crenshaw´s paper, “Mapping the Margins” (1991), this paper attempts a theoretical rethinking of intersectionality specifically applied to small-scale settings. The theoretical question addressed is: how may we rethink intersectionality as a theory, if the social processes of inclusion and exclusion we wish to investigate take place in small-scale settings? Crenshaw´s original aim was to “advance the telling” (1991, p.1242) of those places peopled by persons not usually at the centre of attention. But what if one lives in a place where it is literally difficult to escape notice? Do small-scale settings throw up particular conditions for expressing one´ s gender or other (intersecting) identities? While Crenshaw was concerned about (legal) practices that “relegate the identity of women of color to a location that resists telling” (1991, p. 1242), the concern raised here is whether some locations relegate identities to positions that resist retelling or reinterpretation? The paper discusses both geographic and metaphorical small-scale settings in the form of islands and close-knit communities. One characteristic of such settings is that they are typically places where people know each other in different capacities, leading to compulsory intimacy (Hayfield & Schug, 2019). This means that identities need to be negotiated in constellations where people often already have pre-existing ideas about and experiences with each other.