Intersectionality, Decoloniality, Indigenous Localism: A Critique

This article claims that, despite their critical-political stances, three current and influential theoretical frameworks – intersectionality, decoloniality, and ‘Indigenous localism’ – unconsciously accept global capitalism. The article focuses on the work of Crenshaw, Mignolo, Coulthard, and Tuck and Yang, respectively, to argue that, by ascribing to identity politics (intersectionality), a pluriversal politics of authenticity (decoloniality), and a decentralized ‘incommensurability’ (Indigenous localism), each engages in the culturalization and/or localization of politics – one that disavows the dimension of political economy, and because of that, one that conforms well with, and poses no threat to, capitalist liberal globalization. The article concludes by reflecting on what such disavowal says about our late capitalist times, as well as the potentialities and perils of a contemporary subaltern anti-capitalist politics.