Publication details
Za hranice feministických diskusí mezi Východem a Západem
| Title in English | Beyond feminist East/West debates |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2012 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Gender, rovné příležitosti, výzkum |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Sociology, demography |
| Keywords | differences in feminism feminist East/West debates post-socialist feminism Western feminism |
| Description | The article aims at critically analyzing the construction of feminist East/West debates in the context of the anthology Gender Politics and Post-Communism (Funk, Mueller 1993), from the point of view of other critical feminist voices as well as global power relations, taking effect in the international feminist academic community. Its starting point form the discussions related to differences among women in feminist theories, which started in the 1980s and, in relation to them, the concept of “discursive colonization” (Chandra Talpade Mohanty), which points out the effects of power/knowledge (Foucault) in international feminist research related to women in Third World contexts. The analysis in the second part of the article focuses on the contributions of Nanette Funk, Hana Havelková and Jiřina Šiklová, which in the literature have been repeatedly related to the feminist East/West debates. Based on this analysis I argue that the central focus on differences along an “East” / “West” dividing line is the cornerstone for the debates, which, however, at the same time masks the power relations, which co-create them. The point is an interaction of the East/West hierarchy with an essentialist and theoretically limited notion of Western feminism. Departing from that, I will track, how this interaction shaped the further development of the debates and point out how a non-essentialist understanding of Western feminism and, in relation to that, a turn towards examining the reproduction of global power relations through mainstream feminist analytical approaches, allows to go beyond the identified limits of feminist East/West debates. |
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