Transnational feminism refers to both a contemporary
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
paradigm
In science and philosophy, a paradigm () is a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, including theories, research methods, postulates, and standards for what constitute legitimate contributions to a field.
Etymology
''Paradigm'' comes f ...
and the corresponding activist movement.
Both the theories and activist practices are concerned with how
globalization
Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
and
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...
affect people across
nations
A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by those ...
,
races,
genders,
classes, and
sexualities.
This movement asks to critique the ideologies of traditional white, classist, western models of feminist practices from an intersectional approach and how these connect with labor, theoretical applications, and analytical practice on a geopolitical scale.
The term "transnational" is reaction and the rejection of terms like "international" and "global" feminism.
Transnational feminists believe that the term "international" puts more emphasis on nation-states as distinct entities, and that "global" speaks to liberal feminist theories on "global sisterhood" that ignore Third World women and women of color's perspectives on gender inequality and other problems globalization inherently brings.
The transnational feminist academic paradigm draws from
postcolonial feminist
Postcolonial feminism is a form of feminism that developed as a response to feminism focusing solely on the experiences of women in Western cultures and former colonies. Postcolonial feminism seeks to account for the way that racism and the long- ...
theories, which emphasize how colonialist legacies have shaped and continue to shape the social, economic, and
political oppression
Political repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing the citizenry's ability to take part in the political life of a society, thereb ...
of people across the globe.
It rejects the idea that people from different regions have the same
subjectivities and experiences with
gender inequality
Gender inequality is the social phenomenon in which men and women are not treated equally. The treatment may arise from distinctions regarding biology, psychology, or cultural norms prevalent in the society. Some of these distinctions are empi ...
, it further recognizes that global
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...
has created similar relations of exploitation and inequality, this core concept creates dialogue which feminists around the world can find solidarity and seek collaboration. Transnational feminism further complicates global capitalism and neoliberalism.
Transnational feminist practice is involved in activist movements across the globe that work together to understand the role of
gender
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...
, the state,
race
Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to:
* Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species
* Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
,
class
Class or The Class may refer to:
Common uses not otherwise categorized
* Class (biology), a taxonomic rank
* Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects
* Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...
, and
sexuality
Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...
in critiquing and resisting structures of
patriarchal
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of Dominance hierarchy, dominance and Social privilege, privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical Anthropology, anthropological term for families or clans controll ...
,
capitalist
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
power. It is attentive to feminism as both a liberatory formation and a practice that has been oppressed by and sometimes been complicit with
colonialism
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
,
racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
, and
imperialism
Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
. As such, it resists
utopian
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', describing a fictional island society ...
ideas about "global sisterhood" while simultaneously working to lay the groundwork for more productive and equitable social relations among women across borders and cultural contexts.
Usage
Transnational feminist theorists and practitioners vary in how they phrase "transnational feminism". Variations include "transnational feminisms", or "transnational feminist praxis"
and "transnational practices"
Amanda Swarr and Richa Nagar, in their book ''Critical Transnational Feminist Praxis'', give a list of the now outdated terms that describe transnational feminist practices. They emphasize that, like these "rejects", the term "transnational" feminisms is merely a product of its time in the U.S. and Canadian academic institutions. Before, the terms were " "women of color" feminisms (Combahee River Collective 1982), "
third world
The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...
" feminisms (Mohanty et al. 1991), "Multicultural feminisms (e.g. Shohat 1998)", "international (Enloe 1990)" and "global" feminisms (e.g., Morgan 1984)." Currently, "transnational feminism" is the term that feminists like Chandra Mohanty and
Jacqui Alexander
M. Jacqui Alexander is an Afro-Caribbean writer, teacher, and activist. She is both a Professor Emeritus at the Women and Gender Studies Department of the University of Toronto as well as the creator and director of the Tobago Centre "for the stud ...
,
Inderpal Grewal
Inderpal Grewal is a professor of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Yale University, and a key figure in the academic discipline of women's studies. She is an influential feminist scholar whose research interests include transnational and p ...
and
Caren Kaplan
Caren Kaplan is a professor of American Studies at University of California at Davis, and a prominent figure in the academic discipline of women's studies. Together with Inderpal Grewal, Kaplan is best known for her work as a founder of the fiel ...
claim has political power and can discard
essentialist
Essentialism is the view that objects have a set of attributes that are necessary to their identity. In early Western thought, Plato's idealism held that all things have such an "essence"—an "idea" or "form". In ''Categories'', Aristotle si ...
binaries like First World/Third World, or
heteronormative
Heteronormativity is the concept that heterosexuality is the preferred or normal mode of sexual orientation. It assumes the gender binary (i.e., that there are only two distinct, opposite genders) and that sexual and marital relations are most ...
gender constructs. These feminist theorists believed that "international" put more emphasis on nation-states as distinct entities, and that "global" speaks to
liberal feminist
Liberal feminism, also called mainstream feminism, is a main branch of feminism defined by its focus on achieving gender equality through political and legal reform within the framework of liberal democracy. It is often considered culturally ...
theories, like
Robin Morgan
Robin Morgan (born January 29, 1941) is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key radical feminist member of the American Women's Movement, and a leader in the ...
's concept of "global sisterhood", without taking into consideration race, class, culture, or colonialist and imperialist histories.
In ''Women's studies on its own: a next wave reader in institutional change,'' Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan claim they do not think the term "transnational" is better than either "international" or "global", but that it is useful inasmuch as it is free from the implications that other terms may have:
Criticisms against the term "transnational" claim that because it de-emphasizes the borders between nations and emphasizes the similar concept of global capital flows, it deceptively smooths over large inequalities between nations.
Transnational Feminism in practice can be noted as a means of studying the "other", a western concept of people not strictly related to the global north. This is the attempt to understand what factors make up their identities and struggles and a way of acknowledging that these experiences have their own complex natures, unique geographically and how this is interpolated by those examining and theorizing.
History
Globalization
Globalization
Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
is a process marked by greater political, economic, and social interdependence between all the nations of the world. It arose in the 1970s with greater market expansion.
As
neoliberal
Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
ideologies and policies spread in the 1980s and 1990s, more governments started deregulating their markets. In the Third World, governments implemented
Structural Adjustment Programs
Structural adjustment programs (SAPs) consist of loans (structural adjustment loans; SALs) provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) to countries that experience economic crises. Their purpose is to adjust the coun ...
, which espoused the
neoliberal
Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
ideologies of
free trade
Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...
, increased government deregulation, and reduced
welfare
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
and social protection. These practices feminized the labor force.
Because women in Third world countries are now more involved in the professional workforce, many outsource care work to women in developing countries. This provides more job opportunities for the Third World women but also detracts from the migrants' ability to care for their own children and increases the gap in human capital between the two spheres. Because of this global demand for outsourced labor, women in countries like
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
and
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
who would otherwise not have a job now do, and studies have shown that this improves their sense of empowerment and reduces likelihood of
domestic abuse
Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner v ...
.
Globalization also allows resistances against the spread of neoliberal ideologies. Transnational feminist networks, in which women from all over the world can organize together against gender inequity, would not be possible without the information and travel networks created by globalization.
Feminism
In the ''Oxford Handbook of Transnational Feminist Movements'',
Valentine Moghadam says that "women have worked together across borders since at least the mid-1800s. (55)" What is now called
first wave feminism
First-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity and thought that occurred during the 19th and early 20th century throughout the Western world. It focused on legal issues, primarily on securing women's right to vote. The term is often used s ...
started in the early twentieth century in the West with a focus on
women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the United States government gave women jobs because the war had caused a national shortage of labor. After the war ended,
Irene Tinker says (oxford transnational), these jobs were taken away but women were no longer satisfied going back to their previous gender roles. Starting in the 1960s in the United States,
second wave feminism
Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades. It took place throughout the Western world, and aimed to increase equality for women by building on previous feminist gains.
Wh ...
emerged, defined by women's organization around "equal right to education, employment, and equal pay for equal work, and on sexual and reproductive rights."
The
UN Decade for Women of 1976–1985, and the following four UN conferences on women between 1975 and 1995 were essential in creating transnational feminist networks and putting feminism on a global agenda.
However starting in the 1980s there was a separation between Western feminists and
Third World
The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...
feminists. This occurred largely because Western feminists largely subscribed to
liberal feminist
Liberal feminism, also called mainstream feminism, is a main branch of feminism defined by its focus on achieving gender equality through political and legal reform within the framework of liberal democracy. It is often considered culturally ...
perspectives, which focused on the common patriarchal oppressor of women, defined by its confining women to the household and traditional work. Liberal feminists propose that women break this oppression by leaving their traditional roles in the household, becoming educated, and entering the labor force. Women in developing countries often felt that Western feminism did not represent them and align with their struggles. They felt that Western feminism was ethnocentric and assumed all women had similar situations. Scholars like
Chandra Talpade Mohanty
Chandra Talpade Mohanty (born 1955) is a Distinguished Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, Sociology, and the Cultural Foundations of Education and Dean's Professor of the Humanities at Syracuse University. Mohanty, a postcolonial and tra ...
plays an integral role in articulating concerns about Western feminism's failure to account for non-Western subjects. She critiques feminism during this time period to be more inclusive of intersectional struggles, identifying that feminism and inequalities are not linear, and the idea of female being a basis of shared oppression invisibilized the individual within their specific context and time. Upon realizing that the common phenomena of capitalist globalization was causing women all over the world to be disproportionately affected (CITE), transnational feminist movements allied together and helped to consolidate the field of transnational feminism.
Transnational feminism
The theory termed "transnational feminism" was first used
by
Inderpal Grewal
Inderpal Grewal is a professor of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Yale University, and a key figure in the academic discipline of women's studies. She is an influential feminist scholar whose research interests include transnational and p ...
and
Caren Kaplan
Caren Kaplan is a professor of American Studies at University of California at Davis, and a prominent figure in the academic discipline of women's studies. Together with Inderpal Grewal, Kaplan is best known for her work as a founder of the fiel ...
in 1994 in their germinal text ''Scattered Hegemonies: Postmodernity and Transnational Feminist Practices'', which situated transnational feminism among other theories of feminism, modernity, and postmodernity''.''
Soon after, M. Jacqui Alexander and Chandra Mohanty published ''Feminist Genealogies, Colonial Legacies, Democratic Futures'' in 1997, a book important in formulating transnational feminist canon. This text, building on Grewal and Kaplan's, focused more on the ways in which a new theory of transnational feminism could help foreground feminist activist practices in global contexts. They talk about "feminist democracies" as ways for activists to imagine nonhegemonic futures.
The practice of transnational feminism networks, in which feminists started exchanging ideas and collaborating across nation-state borders, originated from the United Nations conferences in the 1970s.
In 1975 the United Nations Decade of Women began with the United Nations declaration of an
International Women's Year
International Women's Year (IWY) was the name given to 1975 by the United Nations. Since that year March 8 has been celebrated as International Women's Day, and the United Nations Decade for Women, from 1976 to 1985, was also established.
Hist ...
. This ushered in a decade of conferences that would continue to the present. Important events during this period included conferences in
Mexico City (1975),
Copenhagen (1980),
Nairobi (1985), and
Beijing in 1995.
These conferences and others facilitated the contact of feminists from all over the globe, allowing for discussions to occur that transcended borders. While so called "western feminists", a term for feminists that were "US-based white, class-privileged women"
had dominated the women's rights movement, when women from other parts of the globe were brought in, they began criticizing this type of women's rights for assuming all women had the same experiences, and not considering the impact of factors such as race, state, economic status had on their lives.
The theories of WID and GAD also helped to highlight gender related issues that pertained to women worldwide.
The establishment of transnational feminist networks did many things, one such thing was creating numerous
NGOs
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
. The United Nations conferences were not the only factors leading to the transnationalization of feminism as mentioned, WID and GAD played important roles and so did other global events. As more women globally were gaining greater access to education, obtaining jobs, and becoming more mobile, it allowed for women to more easily meet and communicate. The spread of neoliberalism, poor working conditions, and declining welfare conditions in many countries led many women to find common ground and to subsequently form transnational feminist groups and organizations.
Although the term "transnational" was chosen for its supposed political power and ability to "resist or question modernity",
Laura Briggs, in the ''Oxford Handbook of Feminist Theory'', claims that "transnational feminism" could only be legitimized as a separate field of feminist study when the term "transnational" started being used by business schools, education systems, and global corporations in the 1990s. Since then, however, academic institutions have been incorporating transnational feminist studies as categories of study. In 2000, a group of feminists started publishing the journal ''
Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism'', in which feminist theorists like Amrita Basu started using the term "transnational feminism" to describe a separate and emerging field of feminist studies.
Theory
Transnational feminist theories seek to destabilize liberal feminist assumptions that Third World women face the same type of oppression as First World women.
In their germinal text'' Scattered Hegemonies: Postmodernity and Transnational Feminist Practices'', the authors Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan posit transnational feminist theory as one that critiques
modernity
Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissancein the " ...
through the lens of feminist theory. This articulation of feminist theory is a revision to the field of
postmodernism
Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or Rhetorical modes, mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by philosophical skepticism, skepticis ...
, which the authors argue is powerful in its critique of modern global capitalism, but inadequate because it does not explore gender or reflect on the consequences of theorizing with a Western background. Without paying attention to how colonial histories and global capital flows allow for different cultures to influence and change each other, postmodernist theorists portray non-Western cultures as essentially different from and marginal to Western cultures. Postmodern does not exemplify the realities of transnational feminism and its relation to developing countries, Mohanty states "postmodernist critique that is skeptical of a systematic analysis of institutionalized power and of decolonizing methodologies that center marginalized experience (women of color epistemology) in struggles for justice is seriously off the mark".
In order for activists around the world to collaborate, they need a theory that both creates solidarity among women all over the globe and recognizes difference. This involves challenging how people from different cultures understand what being a "woman" is and can be. Grewal and Kaplan express this sentiment when they say:
These modern capitalist social formations can include "
humanitarian
Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotional ...
" wars waged on behalf of the supposed oppressed women.
Laura Bush
Laura Lane Welch Bush (''née'' Welch; born November 4, 1946) is an American teacher, librarian, memoirist and author who was First Lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009. Bush previously served as First Lady of Texas from 1995 to 2000. ...
, along with various western feminist groups such as the American
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...
and the
Feminist Majority Foundation
The Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) is a non-profit organization headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia, whose stated mission is to advance non-violence and women's power, equality, and economic development. The name Feminist Majority com ...
, justified the
war in Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to:
*Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC)
*Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709)
*Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see als ...
because of "the
human rights abuses committed against Afghani women and girls by the Taliban".
Transnational feminists often oppose such wars, and tend to insist that Western states try to work with local women's rights groups, such as the
(RAWA).
to ensure the effectiveness of solving the cultural and systematic problem that is affecting those marginalized subjects. Another example of discourse and disparities between liberal feminist and transnational theories is the ban against wearing Muslim
burqas in public. Westerners objected to burqas because they saw them as "a symbol of subservience". Transnational feminists argue that banning burqas forces women to conform to "Euro-patriarchal notions of femininity and dress",
stripping them of their agency to make their own choices.
Concerns
There are a number of concerns that many transnational feminists focus on. Issues of gender, languages, imperialism, colonialism, economics, human rights, race, psychology, and nationalism encompass many areas of concern.
Gender
Transnational feminisms examine how powers of colonialism,
modernity
Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissancein the " ...
,
postmodernity
Postmodernity (post-modernity or the postmodern condition) is the economic or cultural state or condition of society which is said to exist ''after'' modernity. Some schools of thought hold that modernity ended in the late 20th century – in the ...
, and globalization construct gender norms, or normative conceptions of masculinity and femininity among the subaltern, Third World, and colonized.
Second-wave feminism
Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades. It took place throughout the Western world, and aimed to increase equality for women by building on previous feminist gains.
Wh ...
in the 1980s started to explore gender instead of sex as a category of distinction between people. With a recognition that biology can identify differences between people, feminists focused on the system of gender norms as an ongoing, changeable process that shaped people's lives and behaviors. This production of critique was largely used in the
Global North
Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003
* ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007
* ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989
* ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015
* Bruno ...
and is a liberal feminist ideology. Though it did not broaden the discussion of workplace discrimination and
reproductive rights
Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health that vary amongst countries around the world. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows:
Reproductive rights rest on t ...
for heterosexual female identified people of the first world, this wave was exclusionary of Third world feminist and developing countries. Second wave feminism rejected critic of inequalities due to class, race, sex, socioeconomic status, legal status, age, ability and religion.
With global capitalism causing more people to migrate away from their homes in search of jobs, migration has affected genders unequally, and is thus a key concern in transnational feminisms and feminist economics. Women currently account for roughly half of long-distance migration, and overwhelmingly marginalized women of color bear the burden of global capitalism.
Human rights
Because the original design of human rights, particularly as constituted in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal De ...
, was designed to fit into specific legal categories, it reflected the "needs and values of affluent white Western men" who were the subjects of the legal system.
Transnational feminists argue that human rights sometimes do not take into account other conceptions of rights, and do not recognize the experiences of women, in particular those who are "indigenous, Third World, women of color, poor, rural, disabled and
queer
''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...
".
For example, human rights are geared towards public life and often don't account for the violations of women within their private lives. The private sector is often one of the major focuses of women's rights, including "domestic violence, the '
double day' of work and family, discrimination against homosexuals, or the denial of reproductive rights",
[Friedman, E. J. (2003). Gendering the agenda: The impact of the transnational women's rights movement at the UN conferences of the 1990s. Women's Studies International Forum, 26(4), 313-331.] and even rights tied to keeping these private for women. However, human rights discourse doesn't largely concern itself with these areas.
Feminists also critique that these definitions of human rights are often tied too much to the nation-state itself, and that this model discludes "the majority of women and communities throughout the world".
Feminists argue that human rights tend also to reinforce power imbalances, giving marginalized people the false assumption that they have rights. In reality these kinds of rights often work more greatly in favor of those already with power,
and furthermore that
nation-states
A nation state is a political unit where the state and nation are congruent. It is a more precise concept than "country", since a country does not need to have a predominant ethnic group.
A nation, in the sense of a common ethnicity, may i ...
that already do not care to follow human rights declarations have no incentive to protect women's rights.
Race
Race
Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to:
* Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species
* Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
is a very relevant area of study for transnational feminism as it is concerned with cross-cultural interactions, histories, and
migration
Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration
* Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another
** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...
s.
Race plays an important role in shaping not only historical interactions between groups, but also present day migrations. Race also plays an important role in many transnational interactions shaping conceptions of
cultures
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...
and groups of people.
[Khan, S. (2013). Zina, transnational feminism, and the moral regulation of Pakistani women. Vancouver: UBC Press.] Race is a key component in transnational feminism, race and ethnicity contribute to the complexities of why globalization and neoliberal agendas are imposed on certain groups (colonized; read: marginalized groups) over others (colonizer; read: imperial elitist).
Economics
Some transnational feminist groups focus on
economic
An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...
issues. Many of the most important issues to transnational feminists revolve around economics. For many transnational feminists like
Mohanty Mohanty/Mahanty/Mahanti is a native Odia surname native to Odisha but is also used in neighbouring states of Odisha such as Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and West Bengal because of migration.
Notable Person:-
*Akshaya Mohanty (1937–20 ...
,
global capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
is a serious problem and one that hurts
women
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...
, particularly
Third World
The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...
women.
[Mohanty, C. T. (2003). Feminism without borders. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.] Mohanty argues strongly against global capitalism. She considers herself an
anti-capitalist
Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economi ...
and is opposed to
globalization
Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
.
Mohanty advocates transnational feminists take similar stances.
The expansion of
neoliberalism
Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
and
neoliberal
Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
policies are also of concern given their often negative impacts on women.
According to
Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde (; born Audrey Geraldine Lorde; February 18, 1934 – November 17, 1992) was an American writer, womanist, radical feminist, professor, and civil rights activist. She was a self-described "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet," who ...
, empowering people who are doing work, like educating others, does not mean using privilege to overstep and overpower groups like educators. Instead, these people must use their privilege to hold the door open for more allies to step in and support groups like educators or less-industrialized groups of women.
Colonialism
Colonialism is one of the most important areas of concern for transnational feminism. Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan talk about how colonialism has created situations of gender inequality that continue to disadvantage the lives of women today. Sometimes this inequality takes the form of
neocolonialism
Neocolonialism is the continuation or reimposition of imperialist rule by a state (usually, a former colonial power) over another nominally independent state (usually, a former colony). Neocolonialism takes the form of economic imperialism, gl ...
, which manifests in the way that First World or Western feminists talk about women from the Third World, creating a binary of Us vs. Them rather than developing a cultural understanding of the differences each respective group has. These ways of talking do not consider colonialist histories and tend to portray Third World women as isolated from flows of global capital and information, and therefore passive, helpless, and uninformed. Such Western depictions of non-Western women, Grewal and Kaplan argue, only perpetuate hierarchies that place Western theorists at the superior center and non-Western theorists and people at the inferior margins.
Imperialism
Imperialism
Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
has had numerous effects on people. Imperialism has often been the impetus for colonialism. Transnational feminism examines not only colonial history, but how imperialism may have contributed to that history. Imperialism is not an issue of only the past, but one of modern-day concern. For example, the United States occupations of
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
and
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
can be seen as imperialistic in nature. The United States has also had a substantial military presence in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
. Some transnational feminists argue this kind of imperialistic nature has led to the increased
fundamentalism
Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishing ...
and
extremism
Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied share ...
in Pakistan, which can be seen in the
Zina
''Zināʾ'' () or ''zinā'' ( or ) is an Islamic legal term referring to unlawful sexual intercourse. According to traditional jurisprudence, ''zina'' can include adultery, fornication, prostitution, rape, sodomy, incest, and bestiality. ...
laws.
The Zina Laws are strict religious laws that regulate extramarital and premarital sex. These laws have very negative effects on women's livelihoods. Transnational feminism looks at the reasons behind the oppression of women.
Some feminists might simply look at the oppressive nature of such policies, while many transnational feminists look to how these oppressive policies came to be.
By not only examining the issue at hand but depthinging the systematic ideologies such as neocolonialism and imperialism and how those contribute to the initial involvement into that country.
Nationalism
In her essay "Postcolonial Legacies",
Geraldine Heng
Geraldine Heng is Mildred Hajek Vacek and John Roman Vacek Chair in English and Comparative Literature (formerly Perceval Professor) at the University of Texas at Austin, where, as of November 2022, she was also affiliated with Middle Eastern stud ...
shows how feminism in almost all Third World countries arose as part of nationalistic agendas that were reacting against colonialism and imperialism.
Kwame Anthony Appiah
Kwame Akroma-Ampim Kusi Anthony Appiah ( ; born 8 May 1954) is a philosopher, cultural theorist, and novelist whose interests include political and moral theory, the philosophy of language and mind, and African intellectual history. Appiah wa ...
talks about how
footbinding
Foot binding, or footbinding, was the Chinese custom of breaking and tightly binding the feet of young girls in order to change their shape and size. Feet altered by footbinding were known as lotus feet, and the shoes made for these feet were kno ...
in China ended when it was seen to represent the weakness of the nation: here, Chinese nationalism enacts its hopes for an anti-imperialist future on the bodies of its women. Some transnational feminist are antagonistic to nationalism because of its history of being a tool of control "the retrospective activity of nation-building in modernity is always predicated upon women as trope".
The nation-state
Because global capitalism is one of the driving forces for much of the inequalities that transnational feminists are addressing with, and nation-states produce and reproduce structures of global capitalism, nation-states are important to look at in transnational feminist practices.
Today, there is also a wave of transnational feminism with "important currents of feminism are challenging the state-territorial framing of political claims-making" and that rejects "the state-territorial frame" itself.
[Fraser, N. (2005). Mapping the feminist imagination: From redistribution to recognition to representation. Constellations,12(3), 295-307.] They point out that the actions of one state can and tend to affect the lives of women in surrounding territories, and even throughout the world with more powerful actors. Furthermore, the actions of non-state actors, especially those of international organizations, of the governmental and non-governmental varieties, have huge impacts on the lives of women without consideration of state borders. Likewise, communication at the scale it exists today can alter the lives of women, especially with "global
mass media
Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets.
Broadcast media transmit information ...
and cyber technology".
Many of the issues that women around the world face as well are not simply from within state borders, such as sickness and climate change, so the traditional model of the state does not do enough for helping to solve these issues.
Some further claim that this framework of the state further contributes to oppression, as it "partitions political space in ways that block many women from challenging the forces that oppress them", especially with the protection international corporations and the current global governance of the economy.
Many of the poor and marginalized in the world, especially of the women, are restricted in seeking justice for problems against such large, international corporations. It also takes many groups out of the global decision making, as, with a few exceptions, women are underrepresented at the national level in many states and in many global governance groups.
These feminists argue that because women are among the most impoverished and underrepresented of the world, in the current framework of the global nation-state, it is even more difficult for women to attempt to create change, when in order to do so, they must often go against their domestic state or an international corporation, both of which have more resources and influence than a singular or even a small community of women, so this power division and systematic structure seeks to further oppress women.
Psychology
Most articles in American Psychological Association journals are about largely White, US populations, although U.S. citizens only constitute about 5% of the world's population. Arnett (2008) pointed out that psychologists have no grounds for assuming psychological processes are universal and generalizing research findings to the rest of the global population.
Henrich, Heine, and Norenzayan (2010) noted that although only 1/8 of people worldwide live in regions that fall into the
WEIRD
Weird derives from the Anglo-Saxon word Wyrd, meaning fate or destiny. In modern English it has acquired the meaning of “strange or uncanny”. It may also refer to:
Places
* Weird Lake, a lake in Minnesota, U.S.
People
*"Weird Al" Yankovic (b ...
(western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic) societal classification, 60–90% of psychology studies are performed on participants from these areas.
They gave examples of results that differ significantly between people from WEIRD and tribal cultures, including the
Müller-Lyer illusion
The Müller-Lyer illusion is an optical illusion consisting of three stylized arrows. When viewers are asked to place a mark on the figure at the midpoint, they tend to place it more towards the "tail" end. The illusion was devised by Franz Carl ...
. Arnett (2008),
Altmaier and Hall (2008), and Morgan-Consoli et al. (2018) all view the Western bias in research and theory as a serious problem considering psychologists are increasingly applying psychological principles developed in
WEIRD
Weird derives from the Anglo-Saxon word Wyrd, meaning fate or destiny. In modern English it has acquired the meaning of “strange or uncanny”. It may also refer to:
Places
* Weird Lake, a lake in Minnesota, U.S.
People
*"Weird Al" Yankovic (b ...
regions in their research, clinical work, and consultation with populations around the world.
Kurtis, Adams, Grabe, Else-Quest, Collins, Machizawa, and Rice have begun to articulate a transnational feminist psychology (also called
transnational psychology
Transnational psychology is a branch of psychology that applies postcolonial, context-sensitive cultural psychology, and transnational feminist lenses to the field of psychology to study, understand, and address the impact of colonization, imperi ...
) that applies transnational feminist lenses to the field of psychology to study, understand, and address the impact of colonization, imperialism, and globalization.
In order to counter the Western bias in the field of psychology, Kurtis and Adams proposed applying the principles of transnational feminism and using a context-sensitive
cultural psychology
Cultural psychology is the study of how cultures reflect and shape the psychological processes of their members.Heine, S. J. (2011). ''Cultural Psychology. ''New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
It is based on the premise that mind and culture are i ...
lens to reconsider, de-naturalize, and de-universalize psychological science.
They identified people in the non-Western, "Majority World" (areas where the majority of the world's population lives) as valuable resources for revising traditional psychological science.
Grabe and Else-Quest proposed the concept of "transnational intersectionality" that expands current conceptions of
intersectionality
Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege. Intersectionality identifies multiple factors of adva ...
, adding global forces to the analysis of how oppressive institutions are interconnected.
In addition, Bhatia believes that a transnational
cultural psychology
Cultural psychology is the study of how cultures reflect and shape the psychological processes of their members.Heine, S. J. (2011). ''Cultural Psychology. ''New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
It is based on the premise that mind and culture are i ...
is needed examine the psychology of diasporas, who are impacted by globalization and consequently have many "homes," languages, and selves.
A 2015 Summit organized by Machizawa, Collins, and Rice further developed
transnational psychology
Transnational psychology is a branch of psychology that applies postcolonial, context-sensitive cultural psychology, and transnational feminist lenses to the field of psychology to study, understand, and address the impact of colonization, imperi ...
by inspiring presentations and publications that applied transnational feminist principles to psychological topics.
Networks and organizations
In the Introduction for the Oxford Handbook of Transnational Feminist Movements,
Rawwida Baksh and
Wendy Harcourt define transnational feminist movements as "the fluid coalescence of organizations, networks, coalitions, campaigns, analysis, advocacy and actions that politicize women's rights and gender equality issues beyond the nation-state, particularly from the 1990s, when deepening globalization and new communications and
information technologies
Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...
(ICTs) enabled feminists to connect readily with and interrogate their localities and cross-border relations (4)." The formation of Transnational Feminist Network organizations requires methods for approaching the conflicts that arise based out of cultural and personal differences of women across the globe. Approaches include dialogue based conversations, flexibility and organization.
Sarah E. Dempsey,
Patricia S. Parker &
Kathleen J. Krone list a number of organizations they consider to be a
Transnational Feminist Network in their article ''Navigating Socio-Spatial Difference, Constructing Counter-Space: Insights from Transnational Feminist Praxis'':
*
Association for Women's Rights in Development
The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID), formerly the Association for Women in Development, is an international feminist membership and movement support organization committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable developmen ...
(AWID)
Association of Women of the Mediterranean Region(AWMR)
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era(DAWN)
*
Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO)
*
Women in Development Europe
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardle ...
(WIDE)
Women Living Under Muslim Laws(WLUML)
World March of Women(WMW)
Other examples of Transnational Feminist Networks include
*
Women's Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and PeaceWomen Working WorldwideGlobal Sisterhood Network
Transnational Feminist Organizations:
AF3IRM
AF3IRM is the first organization to openly and purposefully put transnational feminism into practice. Since 2006, inspired by theorists like Chandra Mohanty, AF3IRM has set out to practice a feminism that builds deeply in local communities and horizontally across national borders. AF3IRM is also anti-imperialist, acknowledging and addressing the role United States imperialism and global capitalism plays in the subjugation of women worldwide.
Movements/activism
Gender plays a large role in the allotment of work, quality of work, type of work etc. Women often find themselves in poor working conditions, earning minimal pay, and having little to no channels to protest or negotiate the conditions. Rural
agricultural
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...
work in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
often exemplifies some of these conditions. Transnational feminists take interests in projects to improve gender relations in family agriculture.
[Thayer, M. (2010). Making transnational feminism: Rural women, ngo activists, and northern donors in Brazil. New York, NY: Routledge.] These feminists wanted to understand the
subordination
Subordination may refer to
*Subordination in a hierarchy (in military, society, etc.)
** Insubordination, disobedience
*Subordination (linguistics)
* Subordination (finance)
* Subordination agreement, a legal document used to deprecate the claim ...
of women agricultural workers and also give the women the tools to increase political discourse.
By creating
political discourse they could hopefully increase their
bargaining power
Bargaining power is the relative ability of parties in an argumentative situation (such as bargaining, contract writing, or making an agreement) to exert influence over each other. If both parties are on an equal footing in a debate, then they w ...
in
labor
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the la ...
situations.
Labor rights
Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, these rights influen ...
are an issue for women not only in Brazil, but all over the world. Transnational feminists in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
study and acknowledge the many factors affecting women.
[Turshen, M. (Ed.). (2010). African women: A political economy. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.] Women in South Africa face racial oppression, gender oppression, and subsequently oppression as workers.
Critiques
Transnational feminism has been criticized for working within the imperialistic framework it has derived from.
A major criticism of transnational feminism lie in the duality of approach to research. While the United States has been seen as a great source for imperialist privilege,
Sylvanna Falcón asserts that it is not the US alone that "practices imperial privilege".
:''"Privileges garnered as a result of geopolitical power are not always experienced''
:''the same way, even by groups of people who benefit from the same structural privileges."''
This speaks to the level in which "Western" feminism is still homogenized as a single experience, even from transnational feminist scholars. Falcón reminds scholars to be mindful of the social location of identities that lie within the area of Western feminism while utilizing a transnational feminist lens. Furthermore, Falcón's assessment of the transnational feminist approach to ontology challenges the "tendency to secularize US feminist research."
:''"Its purpose is to support a research practice that recognizes''
:''both ontologies in order "to theorize in a respectful way.""''
[Lugones, Maria C. & Spelman, Elizabeth V. (2009) Have We Got a Theory for You!
Feminist Theory, Cultural Imperialism, and the Demands for "The Woman's Voice".
In Kolmar, Wendy & Bartkowski, Frances (Eds.) Feminist Theory: A Reader, (3rd ed.).
Columbus, Ohio: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.]
:
:Many scholars ask: Who has the power of representation, whom are they speaking for/about and from what perspective? What images construct the “other” and what constructs this feminist knowledge?
Methodology
One key critique to transnational feminist research and literature is the obtainment of resources to accurately represent the masses and marginalised people. Falcon suggests "building of ethics involves relationships and solidarity models, prioritizing collective justice, adopting alternative research models that acknowledge the dimensions of spirituality in relation to ethics".
The need to collect other sources besides elite academic search components to ensure the accessibility of this knowledge. This also challenges academia's tendency to be exclusionary and selective to what is considered valid and noteworthy content. "Imperialist privilege is one of those contradictory factors in the research process".
To bridge this gap the call for building a research community through seeking out community members, collecting testimonies to people affected by neocolonialism in marginalized communities and involving family members is crucial to creating an organic collective of non-academic, valid knowledge for transnational feminism rhetoric.
The challenge Transnational Feminist researchers are faced with is the ability to incorporate ontologies that are relational Falcon, further explains
"Knowledge production is collective, and we must strive to retain that collective spirit in the organization of our research. As a result, scholars may have to be more creative about their research practices or acknowledge that we do not have the existing methodological tools or ability to research certain dimensions of relational ontologies."
This is not to discourage Transnational feminist but to further critique the modes in which research and academic literature obtains its knowledge. Acknowledging the central nature of feminist research as being imperialist is crucial to understanding how to further improve feminist scholarship.
See also
*
Chandra Talpade Mohanty
Chandra Talpade Mohanty (born 1955) is a Distinguished Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, Sociology, and the Cultural Foundations of Education and Dean's Professor of the Humanities at Syracuse University. Mohanty, a postcolonial and tra ...
*
Colonialism
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
*
Diaspora
A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...
*
Feminism
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
* ''
Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World''
*
Fundamentalism
Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishing ...
*
Gender inequality
Gender inequality is the social phenomenon in which men and women are not treated equally. The treatment may arise from distinctions regarding biology, psychology, or cultural norms prevalent in the society. Some of these distinctions are empi ...
*
Global feminism
Global feminism is a feminist theory closely aligned with post-colonial theory and postcolonial feminism. It concerns itself primarily with the forward movement of women's rights on a global scale. Using different historical lenses from the lega ...
*
Globalization
Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
*
Gypsy feminism
Romani feminism or Gypsy feminism is the Feminism, feminist trend that promotes gender equality, the fight against social inequalities and the defense of the integration of women in different movements in society, making these processes compatible ...
*
Human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
*
Migration
Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration
* Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another
** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...
*
Modernism
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
*
Modernity
Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissancein the " ...
*
Nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
*
Postcolonial feminism
Postcolonial feminism is a form of feminism that developed as a response to feminism focusing solely on the experiences of women in Western cultures and former colonies. Postcolonial feminism seeks to account for the way that racism and the long- ...
*
Postcolonialism
Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. More specifically, it is a ...
*
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or Rhetorical modes, mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by philosophical skepticism, skepticis ...
*
Smadar Lavie
*
Transnational psychology
Transnational psychology is a branch of psychology that applies postcolonial, context-sensitive cultural psychology, and transnational feminist lenses to the field of psychology to study, understand, and address the impact of colonization, imperi ...
References
{{reflist
External links
Contemporary Scholarship
Multicultural feminism
Feminism and social class
Feminist movements and ideologies
Social theories