Critical Solidarity in the Neoliberal University

Presentation given at the National Women’s Studies Association.

Across the US, campuses will celebrate Women’s History Month in March. This celebration is a salient example of how neoliberalism can co-opt identity politics in ways that are often unseen, but can have the unintended structural impact of alienating potential allies and already marginalized groups like trans-women. The hegemony of this neoliberal discourse is illustrated through our packaging of diversity initiatives often at the expense of deep critical engagement and analysis of the matrix of domination. We argue that Women's History Month and other identity-oriented programs can inadvertently work to reify difference, even as they should work to foster solidarity.