Intersectionality on screen. A coloniality perspective to understand popular culture representations of intersecting oppressions at work

Abstract

The article examines popular culture representations of Global South migrants' work through combining a coloniality perspective with an intersectional analysis. In doing so, we analyze two award winning films depicting the experiences of women migrant workers (Fatima and Bread and Roses) in France and the United States of America. The analysis reveals that representations of the effects of intersecting power structures should be understood as a dynamic phenomenon, embedded in different coloniality regimes. Furthermore, it shows how popular culture representations of oppression are multifaceted and reflect stereotyping but also the victims' responses to oppressive conditions. These are represented as opportunities for change, but can, sometimes, contribute to reproduce oppression. The article theorizes the social and discursive (re)production of intersecting oppressions in popular culture by embedding these within coloniality regimes. It discusses how this coloniality perspective can bring to the fore the complexity of intersecting oppressions and the limited, but significant, forms of agency exercised by colonial subjects.