Postmodern Feminist Research Articles

How to think about the instrumental politics of mass rape: a critical appraisal of feminist approaches

ABSTRACT Mass rape and other forms of sexual violence in ethnic conflict, as their incidence in Bosnian and Kosovo wars in former Yugoslavia showed in the 1990s, cannot be relativised along some strategy of either ‘victimization’ or ‘everyone is guilty’ within an antiquated framework of ethnic-religious hatred. In this case as in others, the local notions of honour and blood cannot be taken uncritically to be binding cultural traits that ought to determine social behaviour. Incidentally, they cannot either account for a structured ideology of ‘men’s war against women’, or for a postmodern feminist ideology of gender and the moral panic of a ‘patriarchal dream-order’ restored. In this article, I offer a critical appraisal of the stereotyped and relativising accounts of feminist and human rights scholars, a critique very much needed for an anthropological approach attentive to cultural ideology and activism. To understand the effectiveness of mass rape in a military strategy of ethnic cleansing, I suggest local cultural concepts and moral relativist ideas are not culturally given, but instrumental resources deliberately mobilised.

The Journey of Women in Disney Movies and Their Impact on Shaping Social Perceptions

Disney movies have long fascinated audiences with their fantastical narratives, lively characters, and imaginative landscapes. However, the representation of women in Disney movies was always through a patriarchal lens. This research investigates the portrayal of women characters in contemporary Disney movies Moana (2016) and Mulan (2020) and analyses how they differ from the traditional portrayal of women in Disney movies using the theoretical framework of postmodern feminism and patriarchy. The paper analyses how travel empowers these women and what significant changes it brings about in the development of their characters. The paper also explores the psyche of these women characters and how their journey inspires young adults, especially today’s women. The paper serves as a lens into society and the influence of media and other popular culture in the perceptions formed about women and how they are supposed to be.

Unsettling the Subject of Feminist Economics

This contribution to the Festschrift for Jack Amariglio highlights his engagements with postmodern feminist economics. These include his role connecting postmodernism to economics in the 1980s and early 1990s, his own writing in conversation with feminist economics in the 1990s and early 2000s, and his crucial support for postmodern and antiessentialist feminist economists throughout his career.

Analyzing the Growth and Feminine Consciousness of the Two Heroines in 'Thelma and Louise'

Influenced by the feminism movements in the 1960s, more and more films have begun to pay attention to women's issues as well as presenting a trend of criticism and reflection on the gender issues in the past (and in the Hollywood blockbuster). -The paper will be conducted by utilizing film techniques such as mis-en-scen, colour, lighting, filming techniques, lines, etc. in combination with postmodern feminist theories, female image analysis, female consciousness awakening, gaze theory, as well as theories of narrative and patriarchy to deeply explore and analyse the growth of the subjective consciousness of the two female protagonists in the film. The paper will be conducted by utilizing the textual analysis as a main methodology, trying to contribute a more comprehensive angle to dissect this artwork.

‘Stuffed if I [still don’t] know’: towards weak methodologies

ABSTRACT J. K. Gibson-Graham’s paper ‘’Stuffed if I Know!’: Reflections on post-modern feminist social research’ foreshadowed her meanderings with weak theory, and of attending not to what things are, or mean, but to ‘wonder(ing) where they might go’ and what they might do, in all their emergence, contradiction and multiplicity. Weak theory attends to the performativity of different encounters, processes and knowledges, in all their incompletion and multiplicity, and in following what things do, this paper suggests that weak theory is also methodological. I consider weak methodologies as an approach to methods and practices that centre and integrate the unexpected, confusing, failed and strange within the co-production of research and ways of knowing. To do this, I reflect on two inadvertent wanderings into weak methodologies in my research, and engage Puig de la Bellacasa’s thinking with and dissenting within, to ponder some of the potentialities present in interruption, trouble and dis(re)orientation in research methods. Here, weak methodologies are not just about creating and participating in worlding as researchers, but also about forming an intentional posture of openness to being shaped, shifted, moved and led through research in often unanticipated ways.

“Constructed Women”

Simone de Beauvoir (1908 - 1986), as the pioneer and founder of feminist literary criticism, her feminist thoughts and Literary theory have had a profound impact on the development of women's movement and feminist literary theory around the world. Beauvoir is “one of the most important women of the 20th century.” His book The Second Sex covers the cultural content of philosophy, history, literature, biology, ancient myths and customs, and discusses the actual women’s situation, status and rights in the historical evolution from Primitive society to modern society. In the book, linguistic theories and methods are applied to define and differentiate gender concepts, and a detailed study is conducted on the shaping and influence of daily life, religion, and taboo language on women’s psychology and consciousness. Exploring the relationship between gender and culture is an important dimension that reflects a conscious awareness of language and culture. Beauvoir’s language research has provided important theoretical inspiration for the development of feminism, especially postmodern feminist criticism, and has a transitional significance that connects the past and the future. This article takes The Second Sex as the research text and conducts a feminist analysis of Beauvoir’s linguistic theory from three aspects: The first part elaborates on feminism by analyzing Beauvoir’s application of linguistic methods and research on multiple linguistic issues, criticizing the traditional patriarchal cultural tradition. The second part compares Woolf’s feminist language views and introduces the different focuses of language research between the two. The third part elaborates on the impact of Beauvoir’s language research on feminist criticism and postmodern feminism.

Margaret Drabble’s Fiction: Hysteria and Agency

Margaret Drabble’s The Millstone (1965) serves as a prime example of postmodern feminism, delving into the concerns of female agency within a patriarchal society in the post-war era. This article posits that the protagonist and narrator, Rosamund Stacey, embodies an autonomous female figure who challenges societal gender biases prevalent in late 20th-century London, England. Rosamund, functioning as a postmodern narrator, disrupts the conventional patriarchal notions of femininity, which depict women as inferior, fragile, reliant, and passive. By asserting her financial and educational independence, Rosamund strives for self-reliance as a single woman. However, her endeavor to live independently is met with accusations of hysteria, mirroring society’s reluctance to accept empowered women. This paper argues that Rosamund embraces her “hysteric” label, utilizing it to dismantle the patriarchal notion of women as inherently predisposed to madness based on biology. Moreover, it suggests that Rosamund embodies the archetype of the “mad” female author, who narrates her own life and thus claims agency in shaping her narrative.

Journeying into the Self: A Postmodern Feminist Reading of Select Female Travel Narratives

The rejection of attributing fixed essences to anything is known as non-essentialism. It refers to the rejection of assigning men and women fixed qualities in the context of postmodern feminism. This essay uses a postmodern feminist lens to examine and compare Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia with Shivya Nath's The Shooting Star: A Girl, Her Backpack, and the World. As Shivya Nath challenges the stereotypes surrounding independent women travelers and strives to escape being confined to a set of guidelines for how a single woman should travel, Elizabeth Gilbert, in her mid-thirties, is forced to consider whether or not she truly is happy and leading a fulfilling life due to a failed marriage. They both embarked on quests to find solutions. Both travelogues offer an insightful look into the minds of their respective authors, discussing how they defy expectations and deal with patriarchal rules. In the process, Gilbert and Nath both change and come to terms with who they are.

Postmodern Feminist Amnesia: De-centering Trauma and Re-defining Subalternity in Elizabeth Nunez’s Bruised Hibiscus

In most subaltern narratives, trauma occupies a central position. The subaltern consciousness is often limited to marginal spaces within the hegemonic agency of trauma inflictors. Gendered subalternity, ergo, imposes a further peripheral status for subaltern women. In Bruised Hibiscus (2000), Elizabeth Nunez promotes the voicing of the silent subaltern woman to step ahead of her traumatic confines. This article challenges the essentialized definitions of trauma and subalternity by subverting the totalizing enterprise of dominant centers and highlighting the ‘slippage’ between theory and practice. This movement from centers and back to centers grants the ‘new’ subaltern female characters in Bruised Hibiscus a re-locatable agency that heals neurosis through deliberate amnesiac and mnemonic practices both simultaneously and interchangeably. The women in the novel under study, Rosa and Zuela, become at once the victims and the perpetrators of trauma within a postmodern redefining and de-essentializing narrative of memory and forgetting. Keywords: Trauma, New subalternity, Amnesia, Postmodernism, Elizabeth Nunez

Critically Discuss Some of The Ways in Which Feminist Epistemology Offers a Challenge to Certain Traditional Philosophical Approaches to Knowledge. What Might Be the Educational Implications of These Challenges?

This essay mainly depicts how feminist epistemology challenges the traditional epistemology in three aspects, which are feminist standpoint, feminist postmodernism, and feminist empiricism (Anderson,2000). The feminist standpoint represents views of women, and the knowledge of women are epistemically advantageous than those of men in many spheres of life, because women in subordinated or suppressed positions for centuries can acquire some unique viewpoints that men ignore. Therefore, women's ideas are worthy of recognition and respect, and women should be encouraged to share their thoughts and knowledge. The feminist postmodernism emphasizes that the society needs to devote much attention to the voice of women from minority, low-salary group, low social class. This theory reveals that feminist epistemologists not only strive for privileged women’s rights but also fights for the rights of minority, financially disadvantageous women. The feminist empiricism emphasizes that women’s experience as the reliable knowledge contributes to the society (Anderson,2000). However, these three above-mentioned theories challenge certain traditional philosophical approaches to knowledge, and this essay will show how this occurs. Besides, this essay will show some educational implications of these challenges.

Postmodern Feminism in John Fowles's the French Lieutenant's Woman: From Madness to Liberation

Historically, women are associated with inferiority, weakness, passivity, and emotionality, while men are linked with superiority, power, activeness and rationality. These binary oppositions between the two genders are reflected in the social hierarchy. Whenever women have tried to reclaim authorship, feminine freedom, and control over their own lives, they have been labelled as hysteric or mad. Nonetheless, from the second part of the twentieth century, postmodern feminists set out to deconstruct these false man-made conceptualizations and definitions imposed on women by embracing hysteria and madness. Ironically, they celebrate madness and turn it against itself as a way to agency and liberation. This article will argue that John Fowles’s The French Lieutenant’s Woman’s heroine, Sarah, represents the postmodern female author who deconstructs the patriarchal ideal of femininity or “the eternal feminine” and constructs a new feminine self in the Victorian era. Ultimately, it will demonstrate that Sarah deconstructs the myth of the eternal feminine by embracing madness and storytelling. Moreover, she creates and contracts her feminine identity and shows authorial control over her own life story which influences others, such as Charles.

নারীবাদ : একটি তাত্ত্বিক বিশ্লেষণ

Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal and social equality of the sexes. The word `Feminism’ originated in the nineteenth century Europe. At the very beginning, the concept of feminism has developed in Pythagorean society in ancient Greece and it introduced by women. In seventeenth century, Feminist ideology enhanced through French women writers. Women awakening in the western society has influenced by Industrial revolution of eighteenth century and American Independence movement. Many scholars consider feminist campaigns to be a main force behind major historical and societal changes for women’s rights. Feminist advocacy is, and has been, mainly focused on women’s rights, some argue for the inclusion of men’s liberation within its aims, because they believe that men are also harmed by traditional gender roles. Simultaneously, Feminist theory which emerged from feminist movements, aims to understand the nature of gender inequality by examining women’s social roles and lived experiences. The fundamental objective of feminism is the emancipation of women. To achieve this goal there is a great deal of theoretical differences among feminists due to purpose and way out. Some principal theories are such as Liberal feminism, Radical feminism, Marxist feminism, Socialist feminism, Existential feminism, Cultural feminism, Eco-feminism, Post-modern feminism and soon.

RESILIENSI DAN TRANSFORMASI KOMUNIKASI KEPEMIMPINAN PEREMPUAN PESANTREN: DARI TRADISIONAL KE SEKULER DI ERA POSTMODERNISME

The era of globalization and modernism has colored the movement of
 Islamic boarding school
 women to appear in the public sector, but at the same time they are required to successfully carry
 out their duties as housewives. Conventionally, postmodernist feminist construction is in the dual
 role of Islamic boarding school wo
 men in the family and public sector, namely women who have
 a Islamic boarding school background in the field of religion or people who gain legitimacy as
 teachers or mothers. The Islamic boarding school women's movement is top
 -
 down because the
 production o
 f religious knowledge and truth is determined by the religious elite so that the public
 becomes an object that must submit to the elite. The era of new religious movements changed the
 tendency of Islamic boarding school women's thinking paradigm from the d
 omestic area to shift
 to public spaces such as becoming regional heads after the direct regional head election (pilkada)
 system in Indonesia. This paper aims to analyze the movement of Islamic boarding school women
 in the postmodern era in managing their d
 ual roles as housewives and career women in the public
 domain. From descriptive and content analysis of qualitative research data, it shows that the
 postmodern Islamic boarding school women's movement is able to shift the religious paradigm
 from traditiona
 l conventionalism to modern secularism. The conclusion of this article is about the
 election of Islamic boarding school women as regional heads, showing the collapse of patriarchal
 culture in the current postmodern era. This article provides suggestions th
 at affirmative action is
 needed for women to improve education, so that they are able to take part in the development of
 the nation and state

Action Research and Transformation: Lessons from Three Decades of Practice

In this paper I look back over three decades of doing participatory action research and extract some lessons that bear upon the pressing issues of our time—namely, how to act in the face of unsustainable socio-economic growth trajectories and cascading environmental degradation. I start with my circuitous journey into action research and to the importance of human subjectivity to transformation processes. I then trace the thinking that shaped a postmodern feminist social research agenda. Next follows an account of developing a research design for poststructuralist participatory action research (PPAR) that foregrounds understanding ‘ways of living’ in place. Drawing on actual action research projects, the lessons that emerge concern the importance of 1) inventory and bearing witness to difference; 2) new techniques of resubjectivation that encourage transformation; and 3) shifting the action focus from human subjects to socio-technical assemblages in which humans, material infrastructures, habits and experimentation are interwoven. Throughout my three decades of involvement with action research I have learnt about the limits to the durability of subjectivity change and the need to work on support from wider ecosystems of governance, infrastructure, health and social expectation.

Feminism is Dead, Long Live Feminisms: A Postmodern Feminist Take On The Road To Gender Equality

Feminism is Dead, Long Live Feminisms: A Postmodern Feminist Take On The Road To Gender Equality

Representasi Ideologi Feminisme dalam Film Animasi Encanto: Sebuah Kajian Semiotika

The animated film Encanto, which told the narrative of a magical Colombian family, introduced a new paradigm in the representation of women in the film industry. The unconventional female characters in this Disney-produced picture drew public notice and helped it win Academy Awards. The multiple feminisms represented by these female figures are investigated descriptively and qualitatively. Data were gathered by watching the sequences of Encanto's film and paying attention to how feminism is depicted; taking pictures of each scene that depicts feminism; and then inventorying the acquired data. The data was evaluated and classified according to the feminism depicted in the scenes and discussions using John Fiske's semiotic theory. Existentialist Feminism, Postmodern Feminism, Psychoanalytic Feminism, and Ecofeminism Feminism were discovered to be the feminism streams portrayed in Encanto's animated films. These diverse streams of feminism are a breath of fresh air, breaking the preconceptions of female protagonists in prior Disney animated films.

"He Made Me Do It.” Christianity and Maternal Filicide in Texas

The purpose of this comparative and qualitative study was to examine four cases of religiously motivated maternal filicide in Texas for common themes related to patriarchal and religious oppression of women through Gender Performativity and Symbolic Order. A Postmodern Feminist framework showed a gap in research that explores how Christianity-based religious discourse and gender roles impacted mothers who committed filicide. Newspaper articles were coded for religious themes. Identified religious themes included God, commands from male deity, women as bad/flawed, secrecy, and female obedience and male authority. This research provides a unique understanding of the etiology of religiously motivated maternal filicide.

The Worst Person in the World and Postmodern Feminism

The movie The Worst Person in the World (2021), takes place in Oslo and revolves around a woman named Julie. She is in her late twenties and finds herself caught in a cycle of indecision. She is unable to find a career or a relationship that fulfills her self-worth. The film primarily revolves around the character of the female protagonist, Julie, with the storyline and character development centered on her. Renate Reinsve, who plays the lead role, received the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance in this movie. These years, with the influence of the #MeToo movement, for some viewers, this film may be considered one of the representative works of feminism in cinema. From the character design, cinematography, and references to postmodern feminism in the film, it is indeed a movie that aligns with the principles of postmodern feminism. However, its important to note that the films creative team is predominantly male, and postmodern feminism itself contains inherent theoretical contradictions. Therefore, from an objective standpoint, this film cannot be classified as a feminist movie.

From Production to Viewing: The Presentation of Female Subjectivity in Siren: Survive the Island

As cultural products, female variety shows have the potential to challenge gender norms and promote gender equality. This study adopts feminist theory, social gender theory, especially the relevant content of postmodern feminist theory and audience usage and satisfaction theories. It closely reads the text of the Korean variety show Siren: Survive the Island. Considering the rise of streaming media and the promotion effect of the feminist movement on the production of such programs, this study focuses on the two levels of program creation and audience reception. It discusses how programs give women the right to speak in creation and how to break away from the male-centered discourse system. In the description of the identity of the contestants, the program selects powerful women who are difficult to become absolute protagonists in the past as narrative subjects so that women can jump out of the traditional societys expectations of their identity. On the bodys performance, the show presents the contestants body from an equal and objective perspective, conveying a positive body concept. At the same time, the show largely meets the needs of modern audiences and inspires audiences consensus on female subjectivity and gender equality. This study aims to combine theory and practice, provide strategies for subsequent works, promote producers and audiences cognition of female subjectivity, call for a more open and inclusive environment, and promote further thinking and development on gender issues in the real society.

The Idea of Postmodern Feminism: An Attempt at Postmodern Feminism to Face a Dilemma

As the guiding idea of the third wave of feminist thought, postmodernism has offered a new mode of thinking for the development of feminism. This essay uses the idea of postmodern feminism as an introduction to the dilemma that postmodern feminism faces in not being able to provide practical help in the practical sense of the womens political movement. At the same time, an attempt is made to find a way out of the dilemma. The essay uses references and analysis of previous literature to conduct the research. It is concluded that one way in which postmodern feminism faces a dilemma is through the interpretation of postmodern feminist theory in different contexts. Postmodern feminism plays a varying role in different social contexts. In other words, postmodern feminism has a real role to play in achieving real equality between men and women when most women have already acquired equal political and social status with men.