Retheorizing Intersectional Identities with the Study of Chinese LGBTQ plus Migrants

Intersectionality has transformed our understanding of how multiple axes of power mutually shape social inequalities. However, significant questions arise when applying the theory's macro-level structural insights to identities on experiential, interactional, and situational levels. In this article, we retheorize intersectionality as a processual outcome. Drawing on in-depth interviews with skilled Chinese LGBTQ+ migrants in North America (n = 50), we detail three challenges that arise when individuals negotiate multiple identities across shifting interactions in national contexts: conflicts, disidentification, and indetermination. Each theme captures how individuals actively reconfigure identities while maintaining a continuous experience of mutual constitution. Instead of cohering into a unity, even one that is greater than the sum of its parts, our findings suggest that intersectionality is in an ongoing process of making, unmaking, and remaking.