Abstract

This paper addresses the theoretical issue of how to develop novel interdisciplinary epistemologies and methodologies in Human and Social Sciences by using the intersectionality theory, developed in Feminist and Gender Studies, as a tool. In the first part, the paper introduces the concepts of locationality and translocationality. These are important epistemological foundations of feminist theory to deal with the complex subjectivity that inhabits the postcolonial and globalized world. Intersectionality is presented as a tool that enables the analysis of interconnected factors that shape social locationalities and promotes developing new methodologies. What is in the name intersectionality, how it works, what novelty is there in it, and how it can be further developed are questions answered in this paper. In the second part of the paper, the concept of intersectional-gender is put forward to examine the complex social locationalities of women in transit and to read the status of migrant women in Spain. Finally, the paper decries the resistance to interdisciplinarity in Southern European institutions, and particularly in Spain, and suggests the use of intersectionality as frame for interdisciplinary research methodologies in Human and Social Sciences.