UWM Libraries Research and Course Guides: DEI Reading Lists: Intro to Intersectional Feminism

1. Foundations: Introductory, accessible, and focused on grounding concepts.
These are the essentials, theoretically rich but highly readable. A good place to start to understand the importance of intersectionality and where it began, explaining how and why those pushed to the margins have always been central to comprehensive social justice.
2. Examples of Intersections and Solidarity: Expanding on various intersectional marginalized identities.
Reflections of how groups such as feminism evolve through and with other radical movements and identities. Challenging binaries, borders, and assumed categories, these insights help conceptualize how intersectional lenses uniquely inform conversations surrounding justice.
3. Embodied Resistance: Personal stories, collective organizing, radical imagination. Where theory meets everyday life.
These texts help us engage with considering how we hold harm and healing together. They challenge us to imagine justice beyond punishment, to stay with the hard work of collective accountability, and help us visualize liberatory futures while challenging us to not project our personal ideals.

Introductory Texts for Intersectional Feminism

Introductory, Accessible, & Grounding Concepts
These works offer essential theory, historical roots, and accessible feminist frameworks that introduce intersectionality and center marginalized voices.

Feminism is for Everybody

bell hooks

A compact and accessible primer that breaks down core feminist concepts while emphasizing the necessity of inclusion, community, and justice.

How We Get Free

Edited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

This collection of interviews tracing the legacy of the Combahee River Collective explores the origins of Black feminist thought, showing how collective liberation depends on centering those historically pushed to the margins.

Women, Race & Class

Angela Davis

Tracing how gender, class, and race have shaped women's lives throughout U.S. history, Davis dismantles the myth of a universal feminist experience.

This Bridge Called My Back

Edited by Cherríe Moraga & Gloria Anzaldúa

A groundbreaking anthology by women of color, blending poetry, theory, and personal narrative to challenge white feminism and center voices at the margins.

Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center

bell hooks

An accessible yet critical text that reimagines feminism from the ground up by pushing for a transformative feminist politics rooted in inclusion and radical change.

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race

Reni Eddo-Lodge

A sharp and accessible breakdown of how systemic racism works in contemporary society, with insights into the erasure and marginalization within feminist movements.

Colonize This!

Edited by Daisy Hernández & Bushra Rehman

A vibrant, raw, and bold collection of essays by young women of color redefining feminism through lived experiences, humor, rage, and deep cultural insight.

Can We All Be Feminists?

Edited by June Eric-Udorie

A collection of diverse voices from young feminists around the world, reflecting on who feminism is for and how it must evolve to include all identities.

Hood Feminism

Mikki Kendall

Kendall challenges white-centered feminism by showing how issues like poverty, housing, and food insecurity are feminist concerns.

Living a Feminist Life

Sara Ahmed

A deeply personal and analytical journey into what it means to live and feel feminism in the everyday, while confronting institutional and interpersonal power.

Sister Outsider

Audre Lorde

A vital compilation of essays on race, gender, sexuality, and the power of speaking truth, emphasizing the political as personal and vice versa.

Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza

Gloria Anzaldúa

Blending theory, autobiography, and poetry to explore identity formation at cultural and geographic borders, offering new ways to understand hybridity and resistance.

Excluded

Julia Serano

A critique of how mainstream LGBTQ and feminist spaces often marginalize trans, disabled, and femme voices, while imagining truly inclusive alternatives.

Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women & Feminism

bell hooks

Hooks explores the historical and present-day devaluation of Black womanhood and calls for feminist movements to address race and class alongside gender.

Against White Feminism

Rafia Zakaria

A bold critique of mainstream feminism's historical erasure and complicity in both colonial and capitalist structures and systems of privilege, calling for a complete reimagining of global feminist solidarity.

Transgender History

Susan Stryker

An inclusive and accessible account of trans activism in the U.S., revealing the interconnected struggles for gender justice and broader social liberation.

Feminist, Queer, Crip

Alison Kafer

Kafer reimagines futures for disabled people through intersectional feminist and queer theory, challenging traditional narratives of cure and normalcy.

The Gloria Anzaldúa Reader

Gloria E. Anzaldúa

An expansive collection showcasing theory, poetry, and political reflection from one of the most important figures in borderlands feminist thought

Reclaiming Our Space

Feminista Jones

Explores the role of Black women in online feminist movements, showing how digital activism amplifies marginalized voices and redefines visibility.

The Crunk Feminist Collection

Edited by Brittney C. Cooper, Susana M. Morris, & Robin M. Boylorn

Blending pop culture, politics, and personal narrative, this collection captures the energy of millennial Black feminism and the importance of community care.

Scholarly, Theoretical, & Organizing-Oriented Texts
These works provide frameworks for praxis and deep intersectional critique through exploring how overlapping identities and interwoven oppressions shape movements and how solidarity emerges across difference.

Black Feminist Thought

Patricia Hill Collins

A cornerstone of intersectional feminist theory that centers the intellectual contributions of Black women. Blending sociology, personal experience, and theory to define a unique feminist epistemology and explains how race, class, and gender shape interlocking systems of oppression.

Unapologetic

Charlene Carruthers

With clarity and vision, Carruthers outlines how intersectionality, queer identity, and radical Black tradition shape activist movements. Rooted in love, resistance, and the refusal to compromise with respectability, it’s both an organizing manual and ideological primer.

Emergent Strategy

Adrienne Maree Brown

Brown draws from nature, science fiction, and community organizing to offer a model of adaptive, visionary activism. Ideal for those newer to activist circles who want theory rooted in care and imagination.

Feminism Without Borders

Chandra Talpade Mohanty

Challenges Western feminism’s assumptions by emphasizing cross-border solidarity and insisting that global justice must center those at the periphery of power.

Do Muslim Women Need Saving?

Lila Abu-Lughod

Challenges simplistic narratives about Muslim women by highlighting the harms of Western feminism when divorced from context, history, and lived realities.

Exile and Pride

Eli Clare

Interweaves disability, queerness, and rural class identity in a lyrical exploration of embodiment, belonging, and resistance.

Community Activism & Feminist Politics

Edited by Nancy A. Naples

Examines how grassroots organizing across race, class, and gender creates new feminist strategies for structural and cultural change.

Nobody Passes

Edited by Mattilda, a.k.a. Matt Bernstein Sycamore

A collection of essays that explores how overlapping systems of power shape how one navigates visibility, conformity, and resistance across marginalized experiences.

The Revolution Will Not Be Funded

Edited by Incite! Women of Color Against Violence

A powerful critique of how reliance on nonprofit funding can co-opt radical movements, this collection calls for grassroots strategies that confront interconnected systems of oppression without compromise.

Sexual Ethics and Islam

Kecia Ali

Offers feminist readings of Islamic texts that challenge patriarchal interpretations and envision a justice-centered approach to faith and sexuality.

Black Queer Studies

Edited by E. Patrick Johnson & Mae G. Henderson

An interdisciplinary collection that centers Black queer experiences, challenging the racial blind spots of queer studies and the sexual silences of Black studies to forge a more inclusive and critical field.

Queer Necropolitics

Edited by Jin Haritaworn, Adi Kuntsman, & Silvia Posocco

A critical collection exposing how queer inclusion often coexists with state violence, revealing how systems of power determine which queer lives are protected and which are disposable across global contexts.

Asexualities: Feminist & Queer Perspectives

Edited by Karli June Cerankowski & Megan Milks

Challenges assumptions about desire and identity, offering fresh perspectives on gender, sexuality, and the politics of inclusion.

Disability & Difference in Global Contexts

Nirmala Erevelles

Reveals how global economic and social structures create and sustain disability, calling for intersectional and anti-capitalist approaches to access and justice.

The Boundaries of Blackness

Cathy J. Cohen

An incisive analysis of how Black political identity is shaped and constrained by issues of power, marginalization, and public health, especially in the context of the AIDS crisis and its impact on Black communities.

Pedagogies of Crossing

M. Jacqui Alexander

Explores transnational feminism, challenging colonial and neocolonial frameworks, critiques modernity’s heteronormative state control, and centers spiritual and transgenerational memory as tools for social justice and transformative futures.

Transfeminist Perspectives

Edited by Anne Enke

Bridges feminist and transgender studies, examining how institutions like academia, healthcare, and border patrols shape and regulate gender, while advocating for more inclusive, justice-driven approaches to gender diversity.

Racialized Bodies, Disabling Worlds

Parin Dossa

Ethnographic study highlighting how Canadian Muslim women with disabilities resist social erasure by redefining identity through intersecting experiences of race, religion, gender, and ability, bridging disability studies and anti-racist feminism.

Black on Both Sides

C. Riley Snorton

Tracing the intertwined histories of blackness and transness, this work reveals how race and gender have been co-constructed through law, literature, and violence, expanding our understanding of transgender identity beyond dominant narratives.

Aberrations in Black

Roderick A. Ferguson

An exploration of queer of color critique and Black feminist thought, analyzing how Black sexualities and identities challenge normative sociology and literature, exposing the limits of racial and sexual normativity in American modernity.

Feminism & Antiracism

Edited by France Winddance Twine & Kathleen M. Blee

A comparative look at feminist and antiracist movements around the globe, showing the intersections, tensions, and possibilities in cross-movement organizing.

Invisible No More

Andrea J. Ritchie

A critical examination of how racialized women face police violence and systemic oppression, this book centers their stories to demand a radical reimagining of safety, policing, and justice beyond current frameworks.

Queering Family Trees

Sandra Patton-Imani

Reimagines family, kinship, and identity through the lenses of race, queerness, and adoption, challenging dominant narratives about belonging.

The Revolution Starts at Home

Edited by Ching-In Chen, Jai Dulani, & Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

A powerful collection addressing intimate, community, and state violence, this book centers queer and trans safety, accountability, and transformative justice as foundational to building collective liberation and solidarity.

Decolonizing Methodologies

Linda Tuhiwai Smith

Introduces a decolonial lens to research, knowledge, and storytelling, urging a transformation of academic and activist spaces alike.

Saving Our Own Lives

Shira Hassan

An intergenerational anthology focused on liberatory harm reduction and mutual aid, offering community-driven strategies to save lives through collective care and resistance.

Let This Radicalize You

Kelly Hayes & Mariame Kaba

Designed to sustain and embolden activists, this book provides accessible frameworks for radical solidarity and resistance. It’s part affirmation, part toolkit.

Beyond Survival

Edited by Ejeris Dixon & Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Highlighting grassroots transformative justice practices, this volume presents alternatives to policing and incarceration by centering community accountability, healing, and practical strategies for addressing violence.

Queer & Trans Artists of Color Volume 1

Interviews by Nia King; Edited by Jessica Glennon-Zukoff & Terra Mikalson

A collection of candid interviews exploring the art, activism, and survival strategies of queer and trans artists of color, highlighting their unique challenges and contributions to QPOC creative communities.

Queer & Trans Artists of Color Volume 2

Interviews by Nia King; Edited by Elena Rose

A continuation of intimate conversations from Nia King’s podcast, deepening the archive of queer and trans artists of color sharing their stories of creativity, resilience, and activism.

As We Have Always Done

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

An incisive Indigenous critique of settler colonialism that calls for radical, place-based resistance rejecting assimilation, emphasizing Indigenous sovereignty, land protection, and the dismantling of heteropatriarchy and capitalism.

Abolition & Social Work

Edited by Mimi E. Kim, Cameron W. Rasmussen, & Durrell M. Washington Sr.

A critical anthology addressing abolitionist approaches within social work, interrogating the profession’s ties to carceral systems and imagining transformative, justice-driven alternatives beyond policing.

Personal Narratives, Analogies, & Applications
These texts bring theory into lived experience. They highlight organizing, storytelling, and collective strategies for justice and transformation through memoir, speculative fiction, and essays.

Laura Hershey

Edited by Meg Day & Niki Herd

A curated collection of poetry and activism from a groundbreaking disabled lesbian feminist whose work reshaped how we think about justice and embodiment.

The Rejected Body

Susan Wendell

Explores how ableism, fatphobia, and the medical model intersect with feminism, advocating for new ways of thinking about bodies and value.

Nonwhite & Woman

Edited by Darien Hsu Gee and Carla Crujido

A chorus of micro-essays illuminating what it means to navigate the world as women of color, rich with insight and nuance across identities and experiences.

Zami: A New Spelling of My Name

Audre Lorde

Poetic biomythography tracing Lorde's childhood in Harlem and coming of age, highlighting the women who shaped her life through lush, cyclical storytelling.