The limits of identity-based intersectionality

Lessons from my small Caribbean village

“There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.” — Audre Lorde.

In the discourse around identity and intersectionality, the conversation often centres on how overlapping identities impact the experiences and rights of individuals within broader societies. However, this framework sometimes misses the intricate dynamics of smaller, more localized communities where identities are not just national or cultural, but also familial and generational.

Growing up in a small village, I observed firsthand the complexities and limitations of identity-based intersectionality. Our community was deeply divided, not by race or religion, but by family lineage. In the remote village where my maternal family resided on the upper plateau of the interior of a Caribbean village, one might assume that shared bloodlines would foster unity. However, this was far from the case. We lived not just physically separated by a road, but also divided within the village itself — my family on one side, and our cousins, descendants of a great uncle’s line, on the other. Sad to say that we descended from two warring brothers, whom my Chinese friend, whom I call Tommy…