Intersectionality of multiple identities and opportunities to learn: creating inclusive environments

Lavern G. Byfield

Chapter 11 in Handbook of Social Justice in Education, 2026, pp 164-176 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter unpacks how students’ multiple identities can lead to discrimination or privilege and discusses the importance of capitalizing on K-20 students’ lived experiences to provide opportunities to learn. Utilizing intersectionality as a theoretical framework, it deconstructs ways in which multiple nondominant identities intersect to further marginalize racialized and gendered groups. This discussion is situated within the context of historical events whose residual effects still disproportionately affect racialized groups. Within the United States, although policies were implemented to redress the effects of slavery, there is much inequity of wealth distribution and opportunities, and nondominant identities intersect to widen disparities. Nonetheless, scholars find benefits to implementing curricula that represent the lived experiences of diverse students. Leveraging students’ identities shifts the focus from teacher-centered to student-centered learning, with the undergirding premise that minoritized populations have life experiences that should be harnessed to make lessons more relevant.

Keywords: Intersectionality; Minoritized Populations; Nondominant Identities; Opportunities To Learn; Social Justice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035318445
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