Travels and troubles of intersectionality: understanding the reception of intersectionality in French through a citation analysis

As a ubiquitous term, intersectionality has circulated across disciplinary, linguistic and national borders. However, circulation is not a passive process but is influenced and structured by intellectual and institutional contexts. As a concept rooted in US Black feminist tradition and adopted transnationally, intersectionality stands as a relevant case to illuminate the complex process of the reception of concepts. In this article, I focus on the reception of intersectionality in French women's and gender studies literature. Using a mixed method citation analysis, I explore the reception of intersectionality in the French context and reflect on the particular citation practices that facilitated the reception of intersectionality and transformed French women's studies and understandings of intersectionality. Heavily reliant on English literature, French intersectionality research bridges two intellectual contexts. Specific citation practices such as co-citation illustrate the translation and reception work developed in this French citation network. These practices can help us understand how the reception of intersectionality by French women's studies transformed women and gender studies in France while also creating a distinct intersectional space in the French gender studies literature. Through a mixed method citation network analysis, I confirm the citational centrality of US Black feminist, but also highlight the importance of the co-citation of US Black feminist and French materialist feminist and introduced scholars from Quebec and other Europeans countries as important actors in the circulation of intersectionality through critique.