Transnational Feminist Itineraries: Situating Theory and Activist Practice ed. by A. Tambe and M. Thayer

Abstract

Reviewed by: Transnational Feminist Itineraries: Situating Theory and Activist Practice ed. by A. Tambe and M. Thayer Yoly Zentella Tambe, A. and M. Thayer, eds. Transnational Feminist Itineraries: Situating Theory and Activist Practice. Durham: Duke University Press, 2021. Transnational Feminist Itineraries is an edited volume of feminist-focused writings that connect solidarity and the shared and diverse goals of universal movements within the context of confronting and countering violence and injustice against women. The volume is appropriate for academics, researchers, doctoral students, and those well versed in analytical writing and terminology. It is not for the general lay reader. The expertise of the editors, Tambe and Thayer, is evident in the assemblage of writings. Both editors are active in women, gender, and sexuality studies. [End Page 446] Tambe is also associate professor in sociology studies at the University of Mary-land, College Park, and educational director of Feminist Studies, a journal of interdisciplinary feminist scholarship in the United States. Thayer is associate professor in sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and is affiliated with the Center for Latin America, Caribbean, and Latino Studies. Transnational Feminist Itineraries is a platform for voices discussing complex issues, both existing and emergent, outside Euro-American power spaces. Here, transnational is not perceived as "elsewhere" but instead as globally inclusive, a collective vision working toward a consistently just future for the female gender. The collection of articles in this volume reflects a gathering of scholarship with settings in North and South America, Africa, Australia, and Asia. This collection continues decades of evolving transnational feminism thought, adding to contemporary analysis and activism in the field. Seeds of thought reach back to the Women's Worlds Conference in Brazil, 2017. Arranged thematically in five sections, writings describe problem areas in the lives of women and girls that challenge the reader. Each section includes articles addressing connecting issues, contexts, and spaces. For example, in section four, Intractable Dilemmas, Naples and Bernstein's article, "Reproductive justice and the contradiction of international surrogacy claims by gay men in Australia," addresses conundrums embedded in the desire by gay men for parenthood, and its relation to women's reproductive rights free of exploitation within the surrogate role. Naples and Bernstein clearly describe the need to recognize the privileged status of those seeking commercial surrogate services, in this instance, gay men in Australia. These are key observations, because of the glaring persistence of "neoliberal, racial, class, and gendered inequalities" (169), within a gay rights issue, and reflect in this setting commonly found problematic thought and behavior. In an effort to protect their own interests and survival, actors espouse through their actions the sentiment justice for some but not for all; the interest of one superseding another. The strength of this volume is in its raising awareness through academic discourse of feminist perspectives on various issues crossing boundaries and multiple populations. However, because of the academic nature of the volume, a necessary question arises; will such valuable thought be translated in lay language? The ideas presented need to reach grassroots populations if concrete change is to take place. How will the contradictions presented by Naples and Bernstein trickle down to individuals in the general gay male community eager [End Page 447] to form a family? The question continues: Is the trickle left in the hands of activists exposed to the Naples and Bernstein article or similar writings? Is it possible for the dilemma of fatherhood and commercial surrogacy to be housed in slender, cheaply produced volumes, made freely or inexpensively available, a la Rius (Eduardo del Rio)? (Rius, a Mexican intellectual and political cartoonist, produced simply stated yet acutely written and illustrated books for a general readership addressing crucial political concerns and erroneous myths perpetuating a state of subjugation for the Mexican masses.) Additionally, the Middle Eastern feminist perspective is absent in the volume. One wonders how, for example, the perspectives of Palestinian women living under the occupation would link to the theories and activism described in this volume. And how would their views coincide with Jewish Israeli women's feminist perspectives? Perhaps this would be a space in which to build empathy and solidarity. This is a volume for academics immersed in...