Transnational feminism comprises a vision and an analysis, along with a commitment
to activism. It appears for the most part as an academic tradition which has
grown out of critiques of white, western, and academic feminisms. As such, it
shares its roots with Postcolonial
Theory. Although many perspectives varying from socialist to liberal are
often represented under the rubric of transnational feminism, the tendencies
which interest us here are those that speak to the formation of autonomous,
affinity groups, as opposed to those which aim to promote women in leadership
roles by working with statist and capitalist institutions (for example, the
transnational feminist group Women’s Environment & Development Organization
(WEDO)).
The vision of transnational feminism builds on global networks of communication,
which bring about a ‘shifting of borders’ that allows for the emergence
of transnational dialogues between feminists the world over. It is in this sense
that transnational feminism is also referred to as borderless feminism. While
capitalist globalization has allowed for such dialogues to take place, transnational
feminism also involves explicit critiques of capitalism and militarism which
positions transnational feminism along the Anti-Corporate/
Free Trade/ WTO/ IMF and Anti-War
interests. It is also in “the context of the global hegemony of Western
scholarship” [1] that the critique of feminist scholarship is produced.
Transnational feminism marks an active refusal to involve feminist discourse
in the construction of a universal notion of patriarchy against which a global
sisterhood could emerge, as well as a refusal to speak for or to offer solutions
for women of the Global South.
This position can be attributed to an intersectional analysis put forth by transnational
feminists who maintain that women’s struggles must be understood in relation
to historic, cultural, economic, and political contexts, which render it impossible
to speak of ‘an average third-world woman.’ While structures of
oppression should be sought out and challenged, oppressive practices cannot
be simply grouped under colonial/capitalist practices. Instead, transnational
feminism seeks to understand oppression as it is constituted along a wide array
of axes, by incorporating positions of class, ‘race’, gender and
sexual orientation, among a host of others.
Such analysis has led many transnational feminists to establish political practices
on the basis of Groundless Solidarity,
which, while being suspicious of the generalizations that mask specific oppressions,
does not “deny the necessity of forming strategic political identities
and affinities” (2). While it is important not to speak for others and
to decolonize feminist practice from the hegemonic assumptions that govern western
thinking, transnational feminism reminds us that it is also important not to
loose sight of the infinite responsibility that is due to others. As such, transnational
feminism embraces a commitment to activism that seeks to promote dialogue through
the construction of alternative structures that allow for the flourishing of
multiple voices and subjectivities. Groups such as the World
Social Forum, which meets once a year to discuss strategies of anti-neoliberalism,
as well as Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML), which establishes non-hierarchical
networks of communication between feminist activists throughout the world, work
towards that end.
Gloria Anzaldua
Sedef Arat-Koc
Himani Bannerji
Amrita Basu
Johanna Brenner
Piya Chatterjee
Dalla Costa
Jane Duran
Alena Heitlinger
Selma James
Bonita Lawrence
Lee Maracle
Chandra Mohanty
Madhu Prakash
Arundhati Roy
Vandana Shiva
Anti-Corporate/ Free Trade/ WTO/ IMF
Anti-Globalization and the Global
South
Anti-Globalization and Feminism
Anti-Racist Feminism
Anti-Racism
Anti-War
Groundless Solidarity
Postcolonial Theory
Various International Solidarity Networks
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Ear (DAWN)
Women Working Worldwide
Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML)
World Social Forum
Conventions
Conferences
Immigrant and Refugee Solidarity
http://www.geocities.com/carenkaplan03/transnationalstatement.html
http://www.aucegypt.edu/src/globalization/Transnational%20Feminist%20Networks.htm
http://social.chass.ncsu.edu/jouvert/v5i1/grewal.htm
Notes:
1. Mohanty, C.T. (2003). Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing
Solidarity. London: Duke University Press. 21.
2. Ibid., 37.