Feminist Agenda Research Articles

Gender and Political Leadership in Samoa: Fiame Naomi Mata‘afa and the 2021 Election

ABSTRACT The election of Fiame Naomi Mata‘afa to the office of prime minister of Samoa has attracted attention on the grounds that it represents a victory for women across the Pacific region. But there is limited gendered analysis of her campaign and the highly contested formation of government process that followed. We fill that gap. Drawing on a range of empirical material, including interviews with Fiame, we argue that while her win was unequivocally one for women, she was not elected because she was a woman. We acknowledge that gender had some significance for the way she mobilized support, but find that her traditional status, experience, and the salience of the issues on which she campaigned were much more important in the minds of voters. These findings matter because the disjuncture between the dynamics of domestic politics and international commentary can be perceived as reinforcing the claim that a feminist agenda is being ‘imposed’ by outsiders.

Multimodal Hong Kong: A review of policies regarding soundscape and smellscape of Chinese temples

Many people in Hong Kong regularly visit Chinese temples, and see this not necessarily as a religious activity, but as a traditional practice. Temples represent the local intangible cultural heritage. The dense urbanity and mixed population characterise Hong Kong and make it valuable to study its sounds and smells. Most temples existed earlier than modern urban areas, which grew around them. The temple soundscape consists of drums, bells, coin donations, ventilation fans, as well as chanting, especially during festivals. The smellscape consists of ritual burning of incense and paper, fruit offerings, and building materials e.g., wood and cement. The burning causes particle pollution, health concerns, and residential nuisance, that may conflict with the wish for sustaining a valuable heritage. Smells and air quality have recently become debated, raising the question of the need for a specific regulatory framework. There is currently a lack of official provision that directly protects the sounds and smells of these temples in Hong Kong. This paper reviews the current state of Hong Kong policies in regard to soundscape and smellscape, with comparison to China and France, because of the latter's progressive agenda in preserving sensory heritage in the countryside.

State, capital and nation in Green New Deal Politics: lessons from the British Labour Party’s 2019 programme

ABSTRACT The Green New Deal (GND) has emerged as a crucial progressive agenda for sustainability transition, but there have been few attempts to develop it into a concrete programme for government. This paper considers one such attempt – the GND proposals put forth by the British Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn – and how it tackled three key challenges faced by the broader GND agenda: its reliance on the state, its relationship with capital, and its Western centrism. The paper argues that these challenges gave rise to tensions within Labour’s proposals: treating the state both as an instrument and as an object of change, ambivalence towards capitalism as an economic system and struggling to reconcile the competing forces of nationalism and internationalism. By examining these challenges and Labour's efforts to overcome them, this study provides valuable insights into the messy politics of enacting Green New Deal visions.

Palestine and the Ends of Theory

This article argues that over the past decade-and-a-half, amidst the resurgence of US/EU solidarity with Palestine, several anti-Zionist analyses have emerged that sidestep national liberation, regional politics, or imperialism. It connects that terrain to the rise of a new, and partially anti-systemic, political Islam that gained strength with the fall of the USSR and the contradictions arising within US-led imperialism. The article links this phenomenon to post-Cold War imperialist counterinsurgency and accumulation strategies, and the chasm separating EU-US anti-Zionism from the Palestinian national movement. It discusses political repression and the professionalization of Arab regional studies and ‘the Left,’ with pressures to create a Palestinian narrative speaking to an alleged mainstream and thus making Palestinian rights fit within a world-system and its geoculture that have no place for them. It analyzes those theories that helped forge an anti-Zionism hostile to Israel that ignores, mischaracterizes, or rejects the concrete forces resisting Israel and the US. The article calls for a more catholic theoretical practice that is open to the liberation agenda and its historical agents.

Retranslation as a means to reinvigorate a feminist agenda: the cases of Beya Durmiente (Dj Beya) and Desertoras

ABSTRACT This collaborative feminist and transnational study revises a selection of Gabriela Cabezón Cámara’s literary works. Expanding beyond literature, we focus on the theatrical realm, exploring how Cabezón Cámara’s feminist agenda in writing translates into stage adaptations. Centered on the novels Le viste la cara a Dios. La Bella Durmiente and Las aventuras de la China Iron, our analysis aligns with post-translation theories and examines Cabezón Cámara’s retranslation of the feminine subject(s), from narrations to performances. Adopting a framework that integrates multimodality, intermediality, and transdisciplinarity, we trace the construction of feminist subjectivities across various phases in the translation process, considering verbal and non-verbal elements.

Resignification of feminist drama: the translation of The Vagina Monologues in China

ABSTRACT This study examines the resignification of the world-famous feminist drama, The Vagina Monologues (TVM), in its translation and adaptation to the Chinese context. Specifically, it explores how TVM, along with its feminist agendas and values, is resignified in China through textual alterations and follow-up activism. The specific alterations in translation primarily revolve around themes including infant abandonment as gender-based violence, the emphasis on acquaintance rape as a form of sexual violence, and the unveiling of victim-blaming as a rape stereotype constructed in the Chinese context. The follow-up activism led by scholars entails different forms of actions that interact with social reality, with the most influential one being the assistance provided to individuals affected by gender injustice. Through the examination of TVM's transnational metamorphosis, this study finds that drama translation not only provides a channel for feminist awareness-raising in contemporary China but promotes the dialogue between local and global feminist activism.

Monument o monstre. La memorialització de Rodoreda com a cos absent/present

This article draws on Jacques Derrida’s notion of the spectre from Specters of Marx (1993) to examine the process of patrimonialization and simultaneous invisibiliza­tion of certain aspects of Mercè Rodoreda’s work and personal life, focusing on a selec­tion of the commemorative acts organized for the centenary of her birth in 2008. It sit­uates the spectre in relation to Memory and Feminist Studies, paying particular atten­tion to Jo Labanyi’s (2000; 2002) recasting of this concept for the analysis of Spanish cultural production and Angela McRobbie’s (2011) critique to postfeminism’s ghosting of the feminist agenda at the turn of the 21st century. My analysis explores the socio­political and cultural dimension of domestic, natural and visual environments. Firstly, it looks at the ways in which the history of the Senyal Vell, the first house in Romanyà de la Selva where the author lived on her return from exile, has been narrated, arguing that they exemplify the dynamics of selection and appropriation in processes of cultural transmission and commemoration. Secondly, my analysis follows the literary routes drawn around the village and the choice of texts related to the suggested locations, not­ing the repeated omission of her unfinished novel La mort i la primavera. Finally, I draw the study to a conclusion through discussion of the portrayal of Rodoreda in the poster for the play Un dia. Mirall trencat, adapted and directed by Ricard Salvat in 2008, where the author is represented as a witch-like master puppeteer.

Uniform choices: elastic feminism and rhetoric surrounding the 2020 Olympic “pantywar”

ABSTRACT Through a critical-rhetorical analysis of women’s uniform activism that went viral surrounding the 2020 Olympic Games (held in 2021), this article builds on existing feminist scholarship regarding the ideological correspondence of postfeminism and popular feminism within gendered economies of visibility. By giving primacy to the notion of personal choice, women activist athletes (and the media coverage of them) employed postfeminist discursive practices in service of a popular feminist agenda. While the foregrounding of “choice” stretched the reach of their feminism, allowing it to shapeshift to please a variety of audiences and gain notice, its deployment also functioned to undermine their political commitments. Presenting the concept of “elastic feminism” to characterize this tension, this essay explores the power and pitfalls of prioritizing the rhetorically flexible logics of choice.

Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Africa

The complex opportunities and challenges of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda articulated in the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 of 2000, and other successive resolutions, subject themselves to the proverbial interpretation of either a cup half-empty or a cup half-full. The WPS is a progressive agenda for gender programmes in Africa. The downside is that the WPS agenda appears not known beyond policy and activist circles in the continent. This study sought to interrogate the progress made by the WPS agenda in Africa since the UNSCR 1325 was adopted using secondary research and content analysis (CA) of current literature. It was revealed that despite some challenges faced the gender perspective is not deficient in peacekeeping operations (PKOs) except in peace agreements, but that gender 1325 commitments are mirrored in the mandates of PKOs. The African Union-United Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), showed the least WPS agenda consideration but the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) significantly reflected this. For the rest of Africa, it remains unclear if the agenda is stagnating or going forward. There is a host of structural challenges rooted in masculinity issues and patriarchal mind-sets among others.

“Joss is (no longer?) Boss”: three layers of cancelling in the joss whedon fan community

ABSTRACT Over the past few years, and in the aftermath of the #MeToo movement, increased attention has been devoted to the practice of “cancelling:” the withdrawal of support from someone whose values, action or speech are deemed unacceptable. While social justice advocates see cancelling as a tool advancing equality and inclusion, the pejorative term “cancel culture” has quickly earned a contested status and was used by opposers to warn against a “takeover” of “woke” values. The Joss Whedon fan community, centered around a creator celebrated for advancing feminist agendas in popular culture, is an intriguing site within this broader controversy. The aim of this study is to explore how fans navigate the ambivalences inherent in cancelling a previously-valued creator, and the tensions between promoting liberal values and protecting objects of fandom. Drawing on 20 in-depth interviews with Whedon fans and former fans, we propose a framework conceptualizing cancelling as consisting of three layers: cancelling the emotional relationship towards the creator, cancelling his works, and promoting cancelling as an ideological choice. The framework is helpful in understanding the broader tensions inherent in the practice of cancelling, in the context of culture and gender wars.

A study of “Womanhood” as Symbols to Further Colonial, Nationalist, and Religious Communal Agendas in the Indian subcontinent

This study delves into the historical exploitation of women as symbols to advance colonial, nationalist, and religious communal agendas, particularly focusing on the Indian subcontinent. Through an analysis of various events, including the British response to widow immolation, the Bengal Renaissance, and the aftermath of the Partition of India, the study highlights how women’s plight was manipulated to serve broader political goals. Drawing from sources such as Tanika Sarkar’s Rebels, Wives, Saints and Urvashi Butalia’s The Other Side of Silence, the study underscores the dual nature of women’s victimization: first by patriarchal structures and then by the instrumentalization of their suffering to bolster ideological narratives. It argues that despite purported humanitarian concerns, women’s agency and well-being were often overlooked, with their experiences reduced to mere symbols in the pursuit of power and national identity. This study aims to shed light on the complex intersections of gender, politics, and power dynamics in historical contexts. Examining the instrumentalization of women’s suffering for political ends prompts reflection on the ethical implications of using marginalized groups as symbols to promote ostensibly progressive agendas.

Reframing Women’s Rights Activism in Contemporary Russia and Vladimir Putin’s Regime

In 2012, Pussy Riots movement came to the surface of Putin’s authoritarian regime. A long with its colorful balaclavas and provocative sudden performance song ‘Mother of God Drive Putin Away’ has successfully challenged the feminist political engagement in Putin’s regime along with their potential impact in improving human rights practice in Russia. This case shows a symbiotic relationship between the feminist agenda and the opposition movement where they could strengthen each other while feminism is the foundation for addressing gender issues. The paper will be analyzed by scrutinizing the actors of the Pussy Riot movement along with the promotion of gender equality as their main agenda. Then, it will be continued by analyzing the link of the Pussy Riot case with human rights and gender politics in the current political process of Russia and Putin’s regime. The two ways the connection between the feminist agenda and the way of opposition movement posed by Pussy Riot will also be drawn. Ultimately, we will see how the case could contribute to gender and human rights advocacy, particularly women’s rights, improvement in Russia. Relying upon the feminist movement, it can be concluded that the feminist agenda of gender equality can expand women’s role in Russia and advance Human Rights advocacy in Putin’s regime. Keywords:, Gender, Pussy Riot, Russia, Women’s Right

Feminist identity crisis in Africa

Feminist movement in Africa lacks capable guardians to steer the development of feminine identity or theory, and to operationalize the feminist agenda. The apparent lack of a national or continental feminist theory has not helped to elevate the status of the majority of women beyond the patriarchal controls, particularly in the rural and peri-urban communities, despite improved social modernization. Africa’s feminist crisis involves the lack of leadership, ideological vacuity, absence of structure or movement, and the non-application of cultural; political; class; religious and tribal identities in developing feminist theory. In search of capable feminist guardians, the tendency of feminist groups is to co-opt self-actualized African women into feminism with or without their consent, and without regard to the accidental coincidence of those personalities’ narratives with feminist epistemology. Feminism in Africa is in search of relevance within the public space. This paper interrogates these issues and uses the narrative of several self-actualized women in Africa, who have, apparently, been co-opted into feminism as a result, to discuss aspects of the crisis and the delimiting public policy and legislation against, perhaps, the development of feminine identity.

From irreversible openness to protectionism: geopolitics and international research cooperation in the European Union

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the EU’s approach to international research cooperation between 2012–2022 drawing on critical geopolitical perspectives and the spatial politics of (re)bordering. It identifies two periods which represent the EU’s shifting approaches to international research cooperation from the pursuit of a liberal agenda promoting openness towards selective closure and a focus on ideological differences, regional interests and protectionism. This shift, we argue, was prompted by the changing geopolitical environment, marked by escalating tensions and perceived threats to the EU’s economic stability, global position, security, and normative values. These factors spurred a re-evaluation of the EU’s approach to international research cooperation, and a (re)bordering of its research space. We suggest that the EU began with utopian visions about the possibilities of neoliberal globalisation, open societies and economic collaboration and ended up withdrawing to a more closed and protectionist position in response to increasing external and internal threats, such as the aggressive actions of Russia in Ukraine, cyber-attacks by China, and the undermining of academic freedom in member states such as Hungary. This analysis contributes to understanding the relationship between geopolitics, higher education, and international research cooperation, highlighting the impact of a changing geopolitical environment on scientific cooperation in Europe.

Palestinian Women Writers in English: Compromising National and Feminist Agendas

The article analyses the intersection of Palestinian nationalism and feminism as represented in literary and political discourse. Through an examination of well-established historical discourses surrounding the Palestinian situation, this study reframes the notion that feminist political projects and nationalism are incompatible. By utilizing the framework of postcolonial feminism, this analysis scrutinizes the depiction of Palestinian women in narratives of national struggle as agents, symbols, and authors. Employing historical analysis and literary criticism as sources of data, this article investigates the development of Palestinian women's activism from the early 20th century to the present. It underscores the impact that women had on the Palestinian literary canon, their contributions to the national movement, and the emergence of indigenous feminisms. Notwithstanding the comparatively masculine conception of nationalist agency that permeates Palestinian nationalism, this qualitative study investigates the ways in which national struggle stimulated the advancement of Palestinian women. This encompasses discussions concerning gender awareness and the methods through which women defied cultural and societal norms through active participation in the national struggle and substantial literary contributions. This study is of significant value as it critically examines the complex relationship between feminism and nationalism in the Palestinian context, while also challenging the assumptions made by Western feminism. Through an examination of the experiences and perspectives of Palestinian women, this study underscores the ways in which the concurrent reinforcement of nationalist sentiments and reclamation of feminist narratives empower Palestinian women and bolster support for the Palestinian cause, thus making a significant contribution to the nation's pursuit of independence.

Latvia: Political Developments and Data in 2023

AbstractThe elections of the state president by the Latvian Parliament brought about not only a new Cabinet and a new prime minister but also a new coalition and an advancement of the social liberal agenda, including the legal regulation of same‐sex partnership. The new Cabinet continued a strongly supportive Ukraine policy aided by de‐Russification efforts at the grassroots level. The left‐leaning Progressives became part of the governing coalition for the first time, but their impact on government policies remains to be seen.

Feminists for a new Constitution in Chile: forging progressive alliances in times of crisis

This article explores the impact and influence of the feminist movement in Chile on the draft of feminist progressive ideas in the Constitutional process of 2021, emerging as a consequence of the social uprising of 2019. Central to this analysis is the pivotal role played by what I term ‘feminists-in-movement’ and ‘feminists-in-power’, delineating the common narratives between grassroots feminist organisations and those individuals advocating within formal political structures, such as political parties and governmental bodies. While the Constitutional draft embodied numerous feminist perspectives, this article focuses on elucidating the feminist political influence by analysing two key proposals included in the 2021 Constitutional draft: care rights and gender-focused politics. The proposals serve as exemplars illustrating the power of political collaboration in pushing progressive agendas during societal upheaval. By dissecting these proposals, this article underlines the significance of forging alliances between different feminist factions, underscoring their collective ability to advance transformative policies during moments of crisis.

Stimulated recall: problematising, challenging and extending conventional application

ABSTRACT Stimulated recall is a qualitative research process which holds significant potential to develop understanding(s) of the ideological, philosophical, perceptual and emotional experiences that underpin observable social actions (e.g. coaching practice). Typically, video and/or audio footage is used to prompt participants to relive and elicit introspective accounts of situations, events and (inter)actions. Despite its potential to explicate concurrent thoughts, feelings and actions, as well as to generate critical reflections on (mal)alignments between beliefs and actual practice, stimulated recall research has most often followed long-standing positivist, univocal and temporally isolated conventions. The purpose of this paper, then, drawing from the authors’ longitudinal experience of using stimulated recall in their respective fieldwork, is two-fold. First, we critically examine and problematise some long-standing beliefs and uses of this method. Second, we tentatively map a progressive agenda for its future utility as a productive research method for scholars, students and practitioners.

#MeToo in the Manosphere: The Formation of a Counter Discourse on the Swedish Online Forum Flashback

ABSTRACT In Sweden, a relative consensus of liberal and feminist values has long been dominant in public discourse. This could be observed in coverage of the #MeToo movement, which was largely presented in a positive light by legacy media, where critical voices were instead found on alternative and social media. This article contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the impact of #MeToo beyond the mainstream discourse by investigating how #MeToo was discussed on the online forum Flashback during the period spanning October—December 2017. Our findings show how the #MeToo debate in this forum reproduced an anti-feminist discourse from the manosphere but also challenged it, as attitudes towards sexual harassment were negotiated and reframed in dialogue with mainstream media. #MeToo thus also contributed to an increased awareness about sexual harassment in this context. However, while a feminist agenda was being strengthened in legacy media, the anti-feminist views on Flashback became more pronounced. Interestingly, while the dominant feminist discourse around Swedish #MeToo avoided the concept “feminism”, it was often used in this counter discourse on Flashback, where it signified a hated, albeit powerful and transformative, force in society.

You still want to have kids, right? Representation of childfree women in Indonesian leading online news outlets

This research aims to explore the childfree discourse constructed by the two leading online news outlets in Indonesia, namely Detik.com and Kompas.com. I argue that online news outlets construct a discourse that aims to discriminate childfree women and the representation of women in the issue of childfree is a media instrument to reproduce the ideology of pronatalism. By using the corpus assisted critical discourse studies method to analyze 137 news articles, this research found that online news outlets produce childfree discourse as a deviation, a source of problems, and a feminist agenda. In these discourses, childfree women are represented as selfish, cold, and incomplete individuals. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that online news outlets in Indonesia do not report the issue of childfree in a neutral and balanced manner. Furthermore, this research discussion seeks to uncover the role of ibuism, as a pronatalist ideology in the Indonesian context, behind the construction of these gendered discourses.