Toward Transnational Feminist Literacy Practices

Abstract

This essay expands transnational feminist methodology such that it better affirms both women's agency and noncapitalism. By bridging transnational feminism and antiessentialist Marxism in the context of feminist development studies, it builds on the contributions of Chandra Talpade Mohanty, which reorient modernist development to take women's agency seriously. However, the lens provided by J. K. Gibson-Graham and other antiessentialist Marxist authors shows how the capitalocentrism and power essentialism woven into Mohanty's efforts diminish women's agency and constrain our political futures. By rereading Maria Mies's study on women lace makers in India, which Mohanty often cites, I explore the productivity of Gibson-Graham's focus on the languages of diverse and community economies. Based on this exploration, I sketch a contour of transnational feminist literacy practices that enable us to recognize and build upon noncapitalism within a web of social interdependence, with a critical eye to the specificities of women's agency.