Confronting the intersectionality of gender and race: A case study of black girls in two multiracial high schools in post-apartheid South Africa

Abstract

Since the introduction in 1994 of a democratic dispensation in South Africa black girls seem not to be constructing their own identities, even though the trajectories of gender identities are central to their social interaction and location. Intersectionality contests the way different societies or groups interact in socially constructed spaces. The majority of the black girls interviewed travel from traditionally black suburbs  (townships) to attend mostly white-dominated schools, where they interact with white, coloured and Asian girls. The present paper explores the link between racial identity and the gender roles that black girls develop as a result of their interaction with other races. Intersection in the research conducted was used to show the limits of racial  identity in terms of its contribution to the study of contested and confined racial spaces for black girls. The research thus illuminated the controversy surrounding the  influences that promote the gender stereotyping of black girls. Lastly showing the limits of racial identity and consequences of multiracialism towards Black girls in a multiracial school.

Key words: Black girls, intersectionality, racial identity, gender, multiracialism