Intersectionality and Orthodox Marxism in practice : Two interpretations of the Lowlands of Northern Cauca, Colombia

This study emerges from a theoretical debate between Orthodox Marxism and intersectionality. The former sets social class at the centre stage in inequality analyses, while the latter one explores the relevance of a juxtaposition of other social categories and identities through a lens of inequality. The study provides an empirical contribution to this theoretical debate by analysing a specific place and offering two interpretations of the same reality, first from the Orthodox Marxist perspective and then from the intersectional one. The context under analysis is the Lowlands of Northern Cauca (LNC), in Colombia. After employing an ethnographic approach during fieldwork, the researcher pinpoints two major features that characterise life-chances in this place. These are the development of sugar-cane agribusiness and the state’s official policy of multiculturalism enshrined in Law 70 or Black Communities Law. After analysing the LNC from both approaches, the author reflects considering the strategy of analysis and suggest a non-antagonistic and rather complementary relation be-tween Orthodox Marxism and intersectionality.