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Complicating Counterspaces: Intersectionality and the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival
Author(s) -
McConnell Elizabeth A.,
Todd Nathan R.,
OdahlRuan Charlynn,
Shattell Mona
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1002/ajcp.12051
Subject(s) - intersectionality , sociology , oppression , gender studies , diversity (politics) , health psychology , community psychology , ethnography , social psychology , psychology , public health , anthropology , political science , medicine , nursing , politics , law
Abstract 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.