Rebel bodies: feminism as resistance in the Catalan pro-independence left

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article discusses the political potentialities of embodied feminist resistance in a nationalist setting like contemporary Catalonia. It strives to provide a better understanding of the body-gender-nation assemblage and pave the way for different formulas of resistance. I study how feminist nationalism in the Catalan pro-independence left opposes far-right populism through embodiment (rebel bodies), affects such as solidarity and companionship, and other visual, linguistic and political strategies. In this context, embodied feminism becomes a sentiment attached to a value system as well as a political strategy that produces particular gendered bodies that are political and confront and resist far-right populism and other forms of anti-genderism through feminism, affects and alternative ideals of the nation. Since anti-gender has become a key element in holding together various demands of right-wing populism (nationalism, religious fundamentalism and so on), it is urgent to study the connection of gender, nationalism and current politics in order to explore its effects in different ideological positions.