Documenti di Didattica
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Definition of Terms
Chandra Mohanty
Terms
Colonialism- control by one power over a
dependent area
Description of Problem:
– Undercutting of women’s traditional
economic base by colonialism
– Exploitation of women workers in the post-
colonial economy
– Lack of education for girls
– Inadequate maternal and child health care
Postcolonial Feminist Theories
Analysis:
– Sexism, racism, imperialism, capitalism,
colonialism
– Patriarchal family structures
– Traditional cultural practices that are
harmful to women
Remedies:
– Protection of women’s economic resources
in modernization
– Education, health care, family planning
– Community women’s organizing
– Eradication of practices such as female
genital mutilation
Postcolonial Feminist Theories
Contributions:
– Gender analyses of modernization and
economic restructuring
– Data on exploitation of women and children
workers
– Women’s rights as human rights
– Understanding of connection between 1st
and 3rd world
Shortcomings:
– Western ideas of women’s independence
can undercut community
– Cultural diversity vs. universal women’s
rights (micro vs. macro change)
Chandra Mohanty
“Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing
Theory, Practicing Solidarity”
She provides:
1. A critique of how Western feminists
construct the 3rd world and 3rd world women
2. Creation of feminisms that are historically
and culturally grounded
Chandra Mohanty
Critique of Western Feminist Theory about 3rd
world women
– Western feminists have created a binary of
Western vs. non-western
– Produced work that has created a
monolithic, singular, universal 3rd world
woman
– This 3rd world woman is uneducated,
traditional, powerless, family-oriented,
outside history, evolutionarily backward,
and has no choices
– This conception limits knowledge of
women globally and limits coalition-building
Chandra Mohanty
Invisibility of 3rd world feminism in
literature
Creation of new types of feminisms and
feminist theories that include:
– Local, cross-national, cross-cultural
analyses
– Race, class, state, liberation struggles
• Examples/immigration laws, multinational
companies and labor forces participation
– Imagined community- horizontal
comradeship
• Political alliances rather than biological or
cultural