How intersectionality is deployed in "12 years a slave" (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Tubingen, course: Marriage, Sex, Adultery: Gender relations in the 19th Century, language: English, abstract: Slavery pertains to the woeful history of America as a calculated and colossal example of man's inhumanity. It is a grievous monument, full of hatred and brutality, about which stories emerged early. The slave history of America has produced various narratives. In this paper I will analyse the novel "12 years a slave" and its film adaption with regard to the theory of intersectionality.

I will examine two different responses to the idea of representing the brutal behaviour of human beings bought, sold and used up like property in literature and film. In my analysis I will make use of Kimberlé Crenshaw's theory of intersectionality and its constituents such as race, gender, ethnicity and class, which are defining dimensions of inequality in this context. The primary aim is to examine how various axes of the term construct one another and how inequalities are articulated and connected with differences between human beings. This will be done by illustrating the multidimensional character of the various axis of the intersectional perspective.