Postcolonial Feminist Research Articles

Neoliberal Turns in Global Humanitarian Governance

In this article we seek to extend recent debates on how the promotion of self-reliance through vocational training and entrepreneurship has become the new neoliberal mantra among refugee-supporting agencies, policymakers and humanitarian actors. More specifically, we do so in the context of corporate and celebrity-endorsed humanitarian partnerships and initiatives that single out refugee women and girls. Informed by postcolonial feminist scholarship and guided by Carol Bacchi’s ‘what is the problem represented to be’ (WPR) approach we compare IKEA’s partnership with the Jordan River Foundation (JRF) in Jordan and Angelina Jolie’s support for the RefuSHE project in Kenya. While differences between the two problem representations exist, both initiatives seek to empower refugee women by activating latent entrepreneurial abilities. These, we conclude, reinforce a saviour/saved humanitarian logic while also obscuring the gender division of responsibilities and precarious nature of artisanal labour.

Tafsir Post-Kolonial Femenis Yehezkiel 16:15-22 sebagai Teks Pornografi Kenabian

The issue of violence against women not only occurs in the space of action or the form of direct violence but also in the way of indirect violence, among others through the understanding of the biblical text that discredit women. This study aims to carry out a postcolonial feminist interpretation of Ezekiel 16: 15-22. This text, if understood, literally contains pornographic ideological messages that confront women as victims. Qualitatively, the interpretative analysis approach helps the writer to reinterpret the meaning of Ezekiel 16: 15-22 and find its relevance to the feminist struggle in the present. For this reason, the study of literature is the choice of writing to study various references related to the issues discussed. The results of this study indicate that certain Bible texts written in a patriarchal context have a picture of discrimination against women. With the feminist postcolonial approach, the reinterpretation of discriminatory texts can be done by emphasizing that both men and women were created equally by God.

Social Reproduction in the Making: Recentering the Margins, Expanding the Directions

This essay aims to broaden existing historical narratives of social reproduction by revisiting Black-feminist, postcolonial feminist, and migrant diasporic writings on social reproduction from the 1970s onwards. Centering on the historical experience of women of color, migrant communities, and women in postcolonial contexts and other parts of the world, these writings develop much-needed critiques of dominant social reproduction themes developed in the capitalist contexts in Western Europe and North America. These alternative feminist methodologies and historical accounts add important correctives to what is becoming the main corpus of social reproduction theory and its historiography today. They contain political potentials that expand feminist visions of struggle on the terrain of social reproduction

현전의 형이상학과 서발턴 재현양상의 상관성 연구－박범신 『은교』를 중심으로－

본 논문은 현전의 형이상학과 탈식민적 페미니즘의 상관관계를 서발턴의 재현양상을 통해 살펴보려는 데에 목적이 있다. 서발턴 여성의 재현에서 불가피하게 부딪치는 대상화 문제가 현전의 형이상학과 밀접한 관련을 가졌던 것이다. 박범신의 은교는 남성 재현자(이적요, 서지우)의 글쓰기에 의해서 서발턴 여성(은교)의 폐제가 일어나고 있다. 이적요 시인이 했듯이, 부재하는 ‘처녀’를 맹목적으로 상상하는 ‘이 위험한 대리보충’은 『은교』에서 은교를, 처녀를 대표하는 동시에 순결하지 않은 처녀 혹은 창녀로 묘사하게 만든다. 이렇게 은교는 남성 재현자들에 의해서 드러나는 듯 지워지는 흔적으로 남는다. 즉 『은교』는 현전은 결코 현전하지 않는다는 선험적 의미를 지닌 작품인 것이다.

Transnational Hauntings, Hungry Ghosts: Malaysian Chinese Domestic Gothic Fiction

Yangsze Choo’s The Ghost Bride, which was a finalist for the 2014 Mythopoeic Awards, has recently enjoyed renewed success owing to the Netflix serial based on its premise. The novel takes place in a liminal world populated by Chinese ghosts, Gods and demons. Cassandra Khaw’s short story “Some Breakable Things”, on the other hand, provides a painful and intimate look at loss and bereavement while utilising the Hungry Ghost as a metaphor. A postcolonial feminist reading of Derrida’s theory of hauntology will be applied to my construction and coining of a Malaysian Chinese Domestic Gothic to interrogate and contextualize the hybrid and transnational nature of these texts, which are a palimpsest of Western Gothic traditions and diasporic Chinese funerary customs. The texts’ re-creation and re-visioning of these traditional beliefs and customs display the interstitial dilemma of transnational travellers and diasporic individuals who have to constantly negotiate between consent, autonomy and inherited nostalgia. This article will interrogate these narrative palimpsests to unearth how these tales could provide an answer to the problematics of consent inherent in Derridean hauntology.

The changed and the unchanged: Peer learning for gender and development in Delhi

Peer education has become a popular strategy for promoting gender equality in recent years in response to calls for more participatory forms of development and thanks to the growing popularity of ‘social norms change’ within the development industry. However, there is some evidence that the main benefits of peer education programs are accrued by the peer educators themselves, with little change evident among the target group. This essay draws on research with peer educators working in the ‘gender and development’ sector in Delhi to make two arguments. First, peer educators expressed a sense of enhanced agency and aspirations as a result of the participation in these development initiatives. However, consistent with critiques of other forms of ‘information-centred development’, the primary outcomes of these programs were tied to the material conditions of employment for peer educators rather than entitlements for intended beneficiaries or indeed the knowledge that peer educators had received and were disbursing. Second, in addition to the the absence of structural change and collective political action, the limited outcomes of peer education programs for intended beneficiaries might also reflect the binary created within information-centred approaches to development between the changed and the unchanged. This binary resonates with the dislocations described by scholars of development categories and postcolonial feminist scholars, suggesting that the intended beneficiaries of these programs might feel alienated by their purported peers when development is conceptualized in terms of norms to be changed through information programs.

Konsep Feminisme Gayatri Chakrasvorty Spivak dan Upaya Membangun Keluarga Unggul (Kajian Feminisme Modern)

<em>Concept understanding is very necessary in various things as well as understanding about balancing roles in a family, it needs the understanding of feminism concept. The concept which initiated by Gayatri Chakrasvorty Spivak becomes a reference, as the identity of women in post-colonial feminism is understood as an awareness of women's differences. Third world women are considered to have a greater burden of oppression than first world women. The burden is based on colonial and imperial oppression of gender, race, ethnicity and religion, so that women's identity in postcolonial feminism is directed at a more productive domain to understand identity based on nationality awareness. Gayatri Chakrasvorty Spivak as one of the postcolonial theorists carefully sees that sexual oppression directed at third world women is an oppression that leads to subaltern sovereignty. Therefore, a transformation of subaltern women's awareness is needed by understanding the differences in women's experiences as the basis that woman empowerment is important to be able to form women who are more active and productive, and contribute positively to their families and communities. Overcoming subaltern in families who have a patriarchal tradition is certainly not easy, many things and efforts must be carried out. Providing space and opportunities for women is one of the efforts to uphold justice for women to take roles. Efforts to make a superior family can not be separated from the role of women. The existence of cooperation between parts of the family becomes the perfection and excellence of a family.</em>

Effects of Racism on the Traumatic Experiences of Black Women: Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” in Focus

This paper attempts to explore the effects of racism on sexual traumatic experiences of black women. Actually, the term racism incorporates negative brliefs about women and people belonging to third world countries. As it is suggested by Showalter (1986), Mohanty (2003), Spivak (1999) and Crowley (1991) that women are suffering from male prejdice and this male prejudice leads them towards mental trauma, in this situation, the racist attitudes of the white towards the black prove to be the prejudiceleading to last nail in the coffin. This paper seeks to explore the effects of racism on the traumatic experiences of women keeping in viewAngelou?s novel “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”. The study is qualitative in nature and uses the framework of Post-Colonial Feminist writer Mohanty (2003) in order to analyze the text of the novel selected through purposive sampling technique. Moreover, the finding of the study revealed that the after-effects of both male prejudice and racism lead the black women towards resistance and courage against this process of „double colonializaation?. Through the framework of „Post-Colonial Feminism? many other issues such as displacement, segragation,sexual hes towards all women especially women of colour becauseheory approacharassment, rape and diaspora of non-western women besides the issue of identity crices can be explored by the future researchers.

Poetic Negotiations: Salad Bowl Feminism in Selected Poetry of Fehmida Riaz, Pat Mora and Joan Loveridge-Sanbonmatsu

The research attempts to evaluate the depiction of women's oppression in specific postcolonial contexts at the hands of the interlocked power pattern formed by manifold factors like patriarchy, class conflict, religion, ethnicity and imperialism in the selected poetry of the renowned Pakistani poetess Fehmida Riaz, the Latino American Poetess Pat Mora, and the Japanese poetess Sanbonmatsu. It applies the theory of Postcolonial Feminism to bring to the fore the oppression of postcolonial women at the intersection of gender, class, race, religion and culture, hence, offering a critique of Western Feminist discourse and its slogan of sisterhood, which tends to erase heterogeneity in women's situations across the globe. The theory of Third World Feminism as well as the portrayals in these poetic compositions from a variety of postcolonial social formations, highlight the fact that postcolonial women are not a monolithic and archetypal suffering category as presented in Western discourses; instead, their resistant agency and subversive subjectivity also stands at the center of their creative writings.

『에베소서』 5:21-33의 해석과 한국 젠더 문제에의 시사점: 근본·복음주의, 페미니스트, 포스트콜로니얼 페미니스트 성서해석을 중심으로

『에베소서』 5:21-33의 해석과 한국 젠더 문제에의 시사점: 근본·복음주의, 페미니스트, 포스트콜로니얼 페미니스트 성서해석을 중심으로

Feminismos y género en los Estudios Internacionales

En las últimas décadas, el rol específico de las mujeres en las relaciones internacionales ha recibido más atención y las teorías feministas han ganado terreno en el debate intelectual, lo que ha contribuido a una sensibilización general hacia la incorporación del análisis de la categoría de género en la disciplina de las Relaciones Internacionales. De hecho, uno de los rasgos característicos de la disciplina había sido la invisibilización de las estructuras de género que impactan a hombres y mujeres de forma distinta. Sin embargo, con la irrupción del llamado “cuarto debate” se abrió una nueva oportunidad para pensar lo internacional desde miradas más críticas e inclusivas. El impacto de los estudios feministas tuvo lugar a finales de la década de 1980 con una publicación especial sobre género en la revista académica Millennium: Journal of International Studies. De gran relevancia en la actualidad son las teorías producidas fuera de los centros hegemónicos y que cuestionan tanto las teorías clásicas como el sistema de género occidental por encubrir un proyecto etnocéntrico. En efecto, las teóricas post y decoloniales pretenden desestabilizar los discursos hegemónicos sobre una supuesta experiencia universal de las mujeres. En este sentido, el objetivo central del presente artículo es realizar una revisión bibliográfica sobre las principales escuelas feministas, así como sistematizar la pluralidad de teorías y de prácticas feministas que han tenido lugar en el devenir de los estudios internacionales. De esta forma, tras una breve introducción sobre el surgimiento de los enfoques feministas en la disciplina, el presente estudio realiza un análisis de las aportaciones de las principales escuelas feministas: el feminismo liberal, el feminismo del punto de vista, el feminismo constructivista, el feminismo posmodernista, el feminismo postcolonial, el feminismo decolonial, la teoría queer y el enfoque sobre las masculinidades. A través del examen de estas diferentes corrientes teóricas, se analizará su impacto en la disciplina de las Relaciones Internacionales, evidenciando los cambios epistemológicos, metodológicos y ontológicos presentes en las diferentes escuelas. Las teorías feministas en las Relaciones Internacionales deben ser abordadas, pues, de manera multidimensional, en el sentido de reconocer las diferencias y elementos comunes respecto a las experiencias de las mujeres, hombres y disidentes sexuales desde diferentes latitudes.

British Criminological Amnesia: Making the Case for a Black and Postcolonial Feminist Criminology

The discipline of Western criminology emerged during the colonial era as a means of controlling the ‘other’. Despite its failures in terms of recidivism these perspectives have been adopted on a global scale. Crime and punishment have been heavily influenced by these ideas and continue to reproduce them in relation to problematic, and pathologising, discourses such as the UK gang agenda which positions young black men as naturally aggressive, sexual predators and innately criminal. How criminologists carry out research also demands attention through a decolonial lens. A move towards a British postcolonial criminology has received scant attention despite there being a range of global literature which calls for changes to be made to the roots of the discipline. Similarly, feminist criminology in Britain has barely been touched by ideas of black and postcolonial feminisms. Consequently, drawing on what has written to further the cause of a black feminist criminology (BFC), this paper argues for the adoption of a black and postcolonial feminist criminology (BPFC) in the UK whereby issues of race, intersectionality and decolonial baggage are central to how we understand crime.

Is there a non-socialist Swedish feminism?

Based on a narrative of the recent history of postcolonial feminism within and outside the Swedish academic world, this article discusses the controversial relationship between feminism and politics. Installing a socialist inspired perspective on intersectionality in Swedish feminist debates and in gender research has been a hard task for postcolonial feminists in a society whose self-imagination excludes the recognition of racism as a fundamental component of the national identity. Moreover, as the country moves rapidly towards a neoliberalization of the former Keynesian Swedish welfare state, racism and homo-nationalism spreads out and permeates the political sphere and state institutions. The author emphasizes the importance for postcolonial feminists to continuously highlight the chasm that exists between neoliberal understandings of gender equality, which are not meant to eradicate structural class, gender, racial or other social inequalities, and those emanating from socialist and anti-racist feministic ontologies.

Desiring homeland: The return of Indonesian Chinese women to Maoist China

The past decades have witnessed a burgeoning literature on guiqiao (Returned Overseas Chinese) in the People’s Republic of China. These works have advanced and broadened research in this field; however, there is a persistent male bias that tends to ignore the gendered nature of migration processes or simplistically frame the return migration of women through a monolithic masculine/patriotic lens. To fill this gap, this paper looks at gendered motivations behind the ‘return’ of Chinese women from Indonesia in the 1950s. Seeing gender as ‘a central organizing principle in migration flows and in the organization of migrants lives’ ( Lutz 2010 : 1651) and drawing upon interviews and archival studies, it suggests that the ‘return’ of Chinese women to Maoist China was closely associated with postcolonial feminist imagination, or more specifically, a longing for ‘emancipated womanhood,’ in a transnational context mediated by citizenship and ethnicity. In addition, the experiences of female guiqiao as voluntary migrants and successful careerists challenge the (mis)conception of Chinese women migrants as trailing dependents, adding a counter narrative to the overarching androcentric discourse about Chinese migration from a historical perspective.

Women under Patriarchy: A Postcolonial Feminist Critique of Wole Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel

This research paper is focused on the exploration of female exploitation in Wole Soyinka's The Lion and the Jewel in the context of postcolonial Nigeria. This paper tries to explore how Wole Soyinka posits postcolonial and feminist rebellion in his play. It explores female suppression and also depicts the failure of postcolonial and feminist resistance to colonial principles. Like colonialists, postcolonialists and feminists overlook the different kinds of injustice and harassments women undergo in the non- Western world, which is also called the Third World. The text also shows how the female suppression and exploitation continues even after the abolition of colonial rule in Nigeria. The researcher has taken the text The Lion and The Jewel of Soyinka as a primary source of data for the qualitative research; and the postcolonial feminism has been used as a theoretical tool for the analysis of the text.

Crossing the Border: Religious Education of Coexistence with the Case of North Korean Refugees in the U.S

When one decides to cross the border of a nation due to political oppression and poverty, it is a crucial decision for the whole world and time around them. Many people make the treacherous journey across economic systems and political and religious background to pursue human dignity and happiness. Among many refugee groups who cross such borders, my research pays attention to North Korean refugees in the United States and their settlement process. As North Korean refugees enter this land of freedom and prosperity, are they provided adequate aid and education to redirect their mindset from communism to capitalism, from oppression and trauma to living together? What is the role of the faith community and of religious education in it? Based on postcolonial feminist practical theology, this paper explores the journey together and offers a pedagogy of coexistence and mutual transformation.

Transitional Justice in Colombia – Insights from Postcolonial Feminist Theory

In 2016, Colombia’s biggest Guerrilla group, the FARC, and the government under president Santos reached a breakthrough in the lasting peace negotiations after the decades-long armed conflict and established a comprehensive transitional justice system. Although the accord is described as relatively progressive, the peace process is currently fraying. This paper aims to address some of the deficits of the Colombian peacebuilding, focusing on insights from postcolonial feminist theory. Building on experiences of past transitional justice processes, the essay examines the Colombian example with regard to women in decision-making positions and the lack of an intersectional approach. Moreover, the paper challenges the capacity of TJ as a tool to address the root causes of conflicts and to achieve a transformation of the society which is necessary in order to accomplish sustainable peace.

Gender Mainstreaming as a Universal Tool for Constitution Writing: The Case of Iraq

Abstract In light of postcolonial feminist criticisms, this article asks how does gender mainstreaming function as a strategy for introducing a gender perspective into the constitution writing process and constitutional text? The 2005 Iraqi Constitution is used to explore the method outside of its usual Western-dominated intergovernmental organization (IGO) context. Three main questions guide the analysis: Did gender mainstreaming promote gender equality effectively? Were there any shortcomings that were a result of a failure to account for intersectionality? Was the association of gender mainstreaming with Western-dominated IGOs a hindrance to the advancement of gender equality?

The Autotelic Self in Jamaica Kincaid’s at the Bottom of the River

Kincaid’s fiction focused on the Caribbean dislocation and displacement which relates to racism, colonialism, and trans-culturality with little or no consideration of the role of the autotelic self in contesting these cultural forces. This study examines the extent to which the Julia Kristeva’s principles of language and subject formation and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s principles of autotelic personality could intersect with this autotelic self. Using the postcolonial feminist literary theory and the Csikszentmihalyi’s principles of autotelic personality, it seeks to ascertain the degree to which Jamaica Kincaid’s selected fiction violate or adhere to Kristeva’s principles of language and subject formation and Csikszentmihalyi’s principles of autotelic personality. It applied the cultural and novel of the Julia Kristeva’s principles and the Csikszentmihalyi’s principles to Kincaid’s selected poetic novella. The study depicts that Kincaid in the selected novella violates the Kristeva’s principles as well both in the same cadre.

Crisis and Opportunity: Women, Youth and Ethnic Minorities’ Citizenship Practices During Refugee Transit in Indonesia

Expulsion from the state is approached as a crisis within both human rights and refugee studies, with Hannah Arendt proposing that the ‘loss of national rights was identical with the loss of human rights’ (Arendt 1976, p. 292). This analysis conceptualises the state as a protective structure and seeks to rehabilitate the refugee into the state system, whether within a reformed natal state (through return) or into a new state (through local integration or resettlement), ultimately restoring the refugee as ‘citizen’. This model is rooted in what Nira Yuval-Davis (1997, p. 119) terms ‘the “fraternal” enlightenment project’ and is both western centric and has a male, purportedly universal-imagined citizen at its heart. Postcolonial feminist scholars have articulated the many ways in which third world/non-western women’s relationships to the state are more commonly either distant or repressive. Expulsion from the state may not, for those who have held only notional or marginal citizenship, entail the ‘radical crisis’ of human rights (Agamben 1998, p. 126) that refugee studies and human rights that theories conceive. Moments of rupture and crisis that disrupt powerful sociocultural norms and break the alliance between constraining state and civil society structures (patriarchal ethnic and religious institutions) can also be moments of social transformation and opportunity. This paper explores the social practices and testimonies of refugees in transit in Indonesia to examine the assumptions underpinning citizenship and to question whether the social good that citizenship aims to deliver needs to be tied to the state.