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a communal and intergenerational dialogue among Indigenous women leaders on decolonial feminist democracy in Ecuador

In contrast to the dominant paradigm of liberal feminist democracy, which operates from a top-down approach and emphasises individual empowerment, this article explores the alternative framework of radical feminist democracy. This alternative model is grounded in collective action from grassroots movements and aims to centre the voices of subaltern women who have often been marginalised in mainstream discourse that focuses on the role of women in democracy. The primary objective of this article is to contribute to the development of a concept of decolonial feminist democracy that is rooted in specific contexts and experiences, particularly those of subaltern women. It seeks to understand how decolonial democratic values are transmitted intergenerationally, particularly through the relationships between mothers and children. To achieve this, we analyse a significant social protest event in Ecuador: the June 2022 Strike led by the Indigenous movement. Through in-depth interviews with adult and young Indigenous women leaders who played key roles in this mobilisation, the article explores various aspects including gender roles, democratic practices within the Indigenous movement and perspectives on feminism. The findings highlight a form of community democracy and the interconnected struggle against neoliberalism, colonialism, patriarchy and extractivism, which Indigenous women actively engage in both on the streets and within their communities. Furthermore, the research uncovers evidence of the intergenerational transmission of democratic values, particularly the ethos of resistance.

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becoming-woman: exploring decolonial feminist possibilities with Bhawaiya folk songs of Bengal

This article explores the possibilities of decolonial subjectivity constructed through the lyrics, performances and tunes of a Bangla folk song genre, Bhawaiya, through the concept of ‘becoming-woman’. Postcolonial scholars have shown that new gender norms for Bengali women were made by the political, religious and cultural encounter between British colonial mechanisms and the nationalist collective struggle of reconstructing the traditions of the Indian subcontinent. While marriage was established as one of the most potent social contracts through that encounter, in Bengal, the words of the embodied or sensual love of ‘illicit’ relations beyond the marital boundary expressed through many lyrics of the Bhawaiya songs show the existence of sexual desire beyond this heteropatriarchal norm. The female subject of Bhawaiya lyrics expressing ‘illicit’ desire is fictional but symbolises the permissiveness of real women’s defiant and deviant emotions. Moreover, the emotions of Bhawaiya folk songs not only connect singers, performers and listeners with the instruments and environments but also create the embodied-atmospheric environment, process and experience of ‘becoming-woman’. In between the colonial and nationalist binary narratives, Bhawaiya exists with sexually subversive emotional elements and with the emotional atmosphere of ‘becoming-woman of Bhawaiya’. The decolonial feminist political potential of this ‘becoming’ challenges the coloniality of gender by evoking ‘female’ emotions that exceed the logic of categorical binaries. This article examines that subversive female subjectivity for a decolonial disjuncture from existing colonial and national narratives.

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