essentialism nuance essentialism A variation of essentialism which purports that differences from a "norm" of essential qualities for a group may simply be treated as slight variations and thus not disrupt the status quo of the group's qualities in question. Nuance theory tends to center a specific kind of experience as the "norm" while suggesting slight variations are non-normative. For instance, if white women are centered as a norm, then Black women would be relegated as a non-normative experience of womanhood. While the experiences of white women may be considered in the main text, the experiences of Black women would be relegated to footnotes. nuance theory