The feminist (?) hero versus the black messiah: Contesting gender and race in the 2008 democratic primary

Senator Barack Obama's matchup against Senator Hillary Clinton during the Democratic primary raised important questions pertaining to the contrasting ways in which race and gender function in the post-civil rights, "postfeminist" era. U.S. scholars of "intersectionality" have argued that in order to understand how race works in any given context, we must consider the role of other social variables as well. Race, gender, class, and sexuality do not act independently of one another, but interrelate and are experienced simultaneously.¹ One of the most fascinating aspects of the 2008 presidential election was that as race came ever more to the forefront, questions of class, age, gender, religion, and nation were dragged right into the middle as well.