Global Sisterhood Research Articles

Towards Transnational Feminisms

This article discusses the emergence of the concept of ‘transnational feminisms’ as a differentiated notion from ‘global sisterhood’ within feminist postcolonial criticism. This is done in order to examine its usefulness for interrogating the globalization of reproductive technologies and women’s right to selfdetermination over their own bodies by using these technologies. In particular, women’s use of technologies for assisted conception, and the local and global transactions in reproductive body parts form a testing ground for transnational feminisms. Does the construction of individual reproductive rights still leave some ground for women’s collective struggles? It is proposed that, if at all, transnational solidarity on this issue is possible, it will have to be built on the concept of universal ethical norms regarding human dignity.

Feminism: What Are We Supposed to Do Now?

WE UNDERSTAND that feminism doesn't actually have a first-person plural subject. Even before the various politics of gender equality--or the differently strategized movements to overturn globally ranged and differently performed patriarchies--came to be known as feminisms at the point of the approximate end of the so-called second wave and the beginning of the so-called third or post wave, the only in sexual resistance was always local and specific, the only working definition of was always at most only national, across all the categories of national identification (race, class, sexuality, faith, diaspora). An experience-based politics and system of representation, feminism has always been functionalized in relation to the immediate and proximate, the ideological, social, cultural exigencies that underpin the experience of ordinary living in any place. Feminism thus didn't splinter in the late 1980s into diverse and frequently opposed constituencies: it was never anything else; there has never been a global sisterhood; there has never been a viable international feminism; there isn't one shared history; there isn't one discourse within which it is possible to be positioned unproblematically as or, for that matter, as woman. The fact of biological gender doesn't actually make for a coherent group beyond might be understood as a superficial genital identification, and questions like what does woman want? are only scandalous obviations of categorically distinct requirements for equality--something, it might be suggested, that likewise obtains for the question posed in this forum. The recognition of the historical impossibility of a collective feminist subject is not, however, an index of anything other than a recognition of the immediate and proximate as determinants of gender-based inequality in diverse locations; and it is not in any way an indication that resistance to gender-based equality is impossible--or for that matter unnecessary. There is no evidence at this time that any patriarchal formation anywhere has effectively yielded to the pressure of oppositional politics. Even if feminism has no functional global subject and aren't a coherent group, anyone who appears to fall into this latter category in any patriarchal formation (so, anywhere) is constituted within it as a and is consequently subject to it means to live and move in ordinary space in a body--to be subject, that is, to a system of gender-based inequity that continues to thrive and in various locations (by which we mean ideological rather than geographical) to be vigorously resurgent. The fact, in other words, precisely of superficial genital identification is enough to subject anyone thus biologically female to lower wages; fewer opportunities in politics, business, and public administration; policing during pregnancy as the passive vessel of reproduction, followed by minimal and sometimes nonexistent support for women with children; increasingly, a lack of access to procedures for the termination of pregnancy; a higher probability of being sexually assaulted; a greater threat of domestic violence; a more severe social condemnation and attendant internalized guilt for the failure to reproduce. …

Concrete Matters: Feminist Cultural Materialism

Historically rooted in 1970s socialist feminism, feminist cultural materialism straddles the social sciences and humanities as a field of inquiry and methodology committed to transformative, emancipatory politics. Initially elaborated as a feminist encounter with Marxist theory, feminist materialism was theorized in the late 1970s by feminists who attempted to explain women’s specific forms of oppression within capitalist and patriarchal structures. Early practitioners interrogated contemporary Marxism for its lack of attention to women’s work and unpaid labour (Dalla Costa and James 1972), and embraced the term “materialist feminism” on the grounds that Marxism needed to be reconfigured before it could be productively realigned with feminist concerns (Delphy 1975). As the field developed, practitioners increasingly worked to interrogate the implicit white, middle-class, heterosexual subject at the heart of much mainstream feminist organizing (Bunch 1975; Carby 1982; Joseph 1981), to think across global borders in order to recognize women’s specific positioning in patriarchal and capitalist systems (Alexander and Mohanty 1997), and to theorize the complexities of “global sisterhood” (Mohanty 2003). At stake, then, was a process of realignment that involved not just a transformation of Marxist notions of value and work, productive and unproductive labour, but also a transformation of whom feminism would speak for, what forms of knowledge would be valued, and how those knowledges would be produced. Feminists called for, as noted by Annette Kuhn and AnnMarie Wolpe, “a transformation of traditional institutionalized modes of acquiring knowledge” (1978: 2). In these terms, feminist materialism was a project that sought to theorize the systemic links between capitalism and patriarchy within historically specific contexts, to interrogate the implicit subject of feminist organizing, and to revalue collective organizing as a social practice intricately connected with broader forms of social organization.

FEMINIST ACTIVISM FOR ABOLITION OF FGC IN SUDAN

quarter century ago Egyptian activist Nawal El Saadawi chastised foreign anti-female genital mutiliation (FGM) campaigners who used them-helping-us rhetoric to practice what she called colonialism in disguise (1980). To women of the regions where forms of FGC (FGC) are practiced, the Western feminist leaders who displayed ethnocentric polemics to denounce the harmful traditional practices were attacking the right of African and Middle Eastern women to determine the targets and timing of their struggles. Privileging Western feminist discourse, such outsiders essentialized African and Middle Eastern women's lives, making the condition of their genitals the most salient feature, demonstrating remarkable insensitivity and neglecting the mutual respect due them in the context of the global sisterhood feminists claimed to espouse. In earlier writing, I have argued for cultural contextualization of these practices and respect for local dynamics of change efforts, eschewing extremes of both ethnocentric condemnation and passive absolute relativism (Gruenbaum 1982, 1996, 2001). Several other researchers, such as Rose Oldfield Hayes (1975), Janice Boddy (1982, 1998), Soheir Morsy (1991, 1993), and Marie Bassili Assaad (1980), contributed to this cultural research, articulating nuanced

Being Feminist

AbstractThe article starts by locating both the author and men in relation to feminism as an identity, which cuts across the public–private divide. It then attempts to illuminate the meaning of ‘being feminist’ by addressing three, tightly interwoven, issues. First is the question: what is the ‘woman’ who is the subject of feminism? The second section discusses the nature of feminism in its various guises, focusing mainly on feminism in Britain since the late 1960s. It engages with the notions of ‘post-feminism’, ‘global sisterhood’ and a ‘third wave’. Finally, the article analyses critically feminism's uneasy relationship with identity politics.

Inscriptions

The irony was not lost that Toronto’s Colony Hotel was the site of theAMSS’ tribute to the late Edward Said, “Inscriptions: Decoding Politics,Gender and Culture in Epistemologies and Praxis,” held on November 27,2004. The first regional Canadian conference, cosponsored by the AMSS’ Canadian chapter and the University of Toronto’s political science department,featured eight sessions. A wide breadth of papers incorporated hisintellectual legacy, either directly through his critical frameworks, or indirectlythrough critiques developed from them. Gender, neo-conservativism,development, legal works of body, and Qur’anic hermenuetics were justsome of the issues discussed.Welcoming and opening remarks were offered by Jasmin Zine andMaliha Chisti, the conference’s cochairs; Paul Kingston, of the political sciencedepartment; and Beverly McCloud in absentia. Participants then splitinto two groups to attend concurrent sessions. Said’s legacy was presentedby Nahla Abdo (Carleton University, Canada), who discussed epistemology,diaspora, and identity, and Sedef Arat-Koc (Trent University, Canada),who examined imperial inscriptions, diasporic identifications, and visionsfor peaceful coexistence. The concurrent session, “Afghan Women, War,and Ideologies of Conflict,” featured papers on ground realities inAfghanistan and the neo-conservative agenda that drove American politicaldecisions.Maliha Chisti (University of Toronto, Canada) and ChesmakFarhoumand-Sims (York University, Canada) examined the trends andimpact of the transnational movement and global sisterhood on programmingfor Afghani women. Relating their experience with capacity-buildingprograms for Afghani women, they conveyed how larger aid agencies usedstereotypical epithets that ignored the long legacy of indigenous women’sactivism and prioritized formally educated, westernized women. FaizaHirji (Carelton University, Canada) examined the perpetuation of stereotypesof Muslim women in The New York Times (US), The Globe andMail (Canada), and Dawn, Pakistan’s largest English daily. While the twowestern papers conveyed tropes of veiled Muslim women in need of rescue,Dawn, due to its proximity to Afghanistan, flagged that country’ssociopolitical and religious complexities by situating women, Islam, andthe Northern Alliance. James Esdail (McGill University, Canada) examinedthe neoconservative movement in American foreign policy and concludedthat although no longer overt, imperialism and Orientalist tropesstill permeate this movement ...

Women’s Agency within Feminist Historiography

Previous articleNext article No AccessResponsesWomen’s Agency within Feminist HistoriographySaba MahmoodSaba MahmoodUniversity of California, Berkeley Search for more articles by this author University of California, BerkeleyPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Religion Volume 84, Number 4October 2004 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/422481 Views: 346Total views on this site Citations: 15Citations are reported from Crossref © 2004 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Jessica Starling Audience, Authorship, and Agency: Religious Educational Materials for Modern Buddhist Women’s Groups in Japan, Journal of the American Academy of Religion 90, no.22 (Oct 2022): 473–492.https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfac029Ariella Rotramel Feminist Historiography, (Nov 2020): 301–320.https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119314967.ch17Caroline Gatt The Anthropologist as Ensemble Member: Anthropological Experiments with Theatre Makers, (Jan 2015): 334–356.https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137350602_15 Introduction, (Jan 2014): 1–35.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822376415-001 Yellamma and Her Sisters, (Jan 2014): 39–70.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822376415-002 Yellamma, Her Wives, and the Question of Religion, (Jan 2014): 71–110.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822376415-003 Tantra, Shakta, Yellamma, (Jan 2014): 113–141.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822376415-004 The Giving of Daughters, (Jan 2014): 142–177.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822376415-005 Kinship Trouble, (Jan 2014): 181–211.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822376415-006 Troubling Kinship, (Jan 2014): 213–222.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822376415-007 Notes, (Jan 2014): 223–246.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822376415-008 Bibliography, (Jan 2014): 251–269.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822376415-009Katharina Stornig ‘Sister Agnes was to go to Ghana in Africa!’ Catholic Nuns and Migration, (Jan 2012): 265–282.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2831-8_14Jonathan Brockopp CONTRADICTORY EVIDENCE AND THE EXEMPLARY SCHOLAR: THE LIVES OF SAHNUN B. SAʿ ID (D. 854), International Journal of Middle East Studies 43, no.11 (Jan 2011): 115–132.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743810001224Gertrud Hüwelmeier Global Sisterhood: Transnational Perspectives on Gender and Religion, (Jan 2009): 173–190.https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230623378_8

Early Modern Nuns and the Feminist Politics of Religion

Previous articleNext article No AccessEarly Modern Nuns and the Feminist Politics of ReligionUlrike StrasserUlrike StrasserUniversity of California, Irvine Search for more articles by this author University of California, IrvinePDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Religion Volume 84, Number 4October 2004 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/422479 Views: 223Total views on this site Citations: 5Citations are reported from Crossref © 2004 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Delfina Gomes, Laura Maran, Domingos Araújo Accounting in the organisation and life of a religious institution: The Monastery of Santa Ana in the eighteenth century, Accounting History 4 (May 2022): 103237322210956.https://doi.org/10.1177/10323732221095628Margaret Chowning Talking back: nuns, beatas , and colegialas invoke rights and constitutional principles in late colonial and early nineteenth-century Mexico, Colonial Latin American Review 29, no.11 (Apr 2020): 115–138.https://doi.org/10.1080/10609164.2020.1721755Lisa McClain Introduction: Devout Outlaws, (Mar 2018): 1–9.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73087-5_1Tamar Herzig The Hazards of Conversion: Nuns, Jews, and Demons in Late Renaissance Italy, Church History 85, no.33 (Sep 2016): 468–501.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009640716000445Gertrud Hüwelmeier Global Sisterhood: Transnational Perspectives on Gender and Religion, (Jan 2009): 173–190.https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230623378_8

Global Activism in "Virtual Space": The European Women's Lobby in the Network of Transnational Women's NGOs on the Web

Web sites are a part of the organizational practices of women's nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and thus a new source of data about their identities and responses to the structure of political opportunities. Using network analysis of Internet links between the Web sites of 30 transnational women's organizations and content analysis of all posted material on the sites, this article explores how the European Women's Lobby (EWL) positions itself among other transnational women's groups on the Web and communicates its identity electronically. We find that the EWL places itself less globally than it might, which reflects its intra-EU mandate. More than other sites, it avoids using the term “feminist” but frames women as active and organized and emphasizes agency, politics, law, and global sisterhood as themes. Compared with other sites, family and reproductive health are under-referenced, indicating areas marginalized by the economic terms of the EU mandate. We conclude that the Web presence of the EWL reflects a reasonable picture of the intersection of feminist concerns with the EU structure of opportunity, making Web sites a useful window into feminist practices.

Feminism‐by‐Design: Emerging Capitalisms, Cultural Feminism, and Women’s Nongovernmental Organizations in Postsocialist Eastern Europe

Women of color within the United States as well as women from developing countries have attacked the hegemony of Western cultural feminism. The idea of a global sisterhood erases important differences in power and access to resources among women of varying races ethnicities and nationalities. These critiques however have often gone unheeded in the reconstruction projects of the former "second world." Western feminists and their nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been employed by the multilateral and bilateral aid communities to help women in former socialist countries survive the process of economic transformation. At the same time many local women throughout Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have resisted the importation of cultural feminist ideologies. They have stubbornly refused to develop a collective gendered identity to advocate for their own rights. (excerpt)

Transnational feminisms in question

The article interrogates transnational feminisms as a concept and as a practice. It frames its analysis using contemporary theories of globalization and the older concept of global sisterhood as a backdrop to the concept of transnational feminism. To assess the practical dimension of transnational feminisms, the analysis focuses on women's rights as a human rights movement and the transnationalization of Latin American feminisms. The article suggests that, although transnational feminisms (particularly feminist postcolonial theories) envision themselves in a new frame and see themselves as committed to intersectional analysis and transversal politics, there are important gaps between the intentions (theory, tactics) and outcomes of their theory and practice.

The exile, the nomad, and the migrant: Reflections on international feminism

This article raises some of the problems contained within the notion of international feminism. It asks whether claims of international or global (or simply European) sisterhood do not hide an inability to deal with women's relation to specific national cultural contexts, and it discusses woman as exile, nomad, and migrant both literally and metaphorically.

The Feminist Quest for Identity: British Imperial Suffragism and "Global Sisterhood" 1900-1915

The Feminist Quest for Identity: British Imperial Suffragism and "Global Sisterhood" 1900-1915