TY - JOUR
T1 - Complicating Counterspaces
T2 - Intersectionality and the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival
AU - McConnell, Elizabeth A.
AU - Todd, Nathan R.
AU - Odahl-Ruan, Charlynn
AU - Shattell, Mona
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Society for Community Research and Action 2016.
PY - 2016/6/1
Y1 - 2016/6/1
N2 - The counterspaces framework articulated by Case and Hunter (2012), follows from community psychology's long-standing interest in the potential for settings to promote well-being and liberatory responses to oppression. This framework proposes that certain settings (i.e., "counterspaces") facilitate a specific set of processes that promote the well-being of marginalized groups. We argue that an intersectional analysis is crucial to understand whether and how counterspaces achieve these goals. We draw from literature on safe spaces and present a case study of the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival (Michfest) to illustrate the value of an intersectional analysis and explore how these processes operate. Based on 20 in-person interviews, 23 responses to an online survey, and ethnographic field notes, we show how Michfest was characterized by a particular intersection of identities at the setting level, and intersectional diversity complicated experiences at the individual level. Moreover, intersectional identities provided opportunities for dialogue and change at the setting level, including the creation of counterspaces within counterspaces. Overall, we demonstrate the need to attend to intersectionality in counterspaces, and more broadly in how we conceptualize settings in community psychology.
AB - The counterspaces framework articulated by Case and Hunter (2012), follows from community psychology's long-standing interest in the potential for settings to promote well-being and liberatory responses to oppression. This framework proposes that certain settings (i.e., "counterspaces") facilitate a specific set of processes that promote the well-being of marginalized groups. We argue that an intersectional analysis is crucial to understand whether and how counterspaces achieve these goals. We draw from literature on safe spaces and present a case study of the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival (Michfest) to illustrate the value of an intersectional analysis and explore how these processes operate. Based on 20 in-person interviews, 23 responses to an online survey, and ethnographic field notes, we show how Michfest was characterized by a particular intersection of identities at the setting level, and intersectional diversity complicated experiences at the individual level. Moreover, intersectional identities provided opportunities for dialogue and change at the setting level, including the creation of counterspaces within counterspaces. Overall, we demonstrate the need to attend to intersectionality in counterspaces, and more broadly in how we conceptualize settings in community psychology.
KW - Counterspaces
KW - Intersectionality
KW - Oppression
KW - Safe spaces
KW - Settings
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U2 - 10.1002/ajcp.12051
DO - 10.1002/ajcp.12051
M3 - Article
C2 - 27216853
AN - SCOPUS:84976514306
SN - 0091-0562
VL - 57
SP - 473
EP - 488
JO - American journal of community psychology
JF - American journal of community psychology
IS - 3-4
ER -