Global Feminisms: Theory and Ethics for Studying Gendered Injustice*

TitleGlobal Feminisms: Theory and Ethics for Studying Gendered Injustice*
Publication TypeJournal Article
AuthorsAckerly, Brooke, and Katy Attanasi
JournalNew Political Science
Volume31
Issue4
Pagination543-555
ISSN0739-3148, 1469-9931
AbstractGlobal justice needs a form of feminism that holds in relation various strands of feminism. Others have selected from feminisms around the globe a version of feminism to name and criticize as “global.” In this essay we identify within feminist struggle for justice around the world global feminisms that take those ideas that others may hold in critical tension—tension which suggests dichotomous interpretations of injustice or opposites on the static scales of justice (such as concerns with recognition versus redistribution)—and hold them instead in dynamic relationship. Global feminists hold in relation the academic post-modern feminists’ concern with “hegemonic meta-narratives” and the women’s rights activists’ attempts to get global recognition of the violations of women’s rights. Global feminists are concerned about the ways in which research is done and the uses to which it is put. Global feminists hold in relation the idea that contexts matter and the idea that the most powerful forces of injustice are embedded in the normative structures of those contexts everyday. In sum, this article looks at global feminisms as a theoretical trend, an ethical approach to research, and an ontological perspective on the relationship between global and local, social, political, and economic values, practices, and norms. Global feminism is a paradoxical posture toward the world that eschews imperialist definitions. It is at once always aware of global connectedness as well as cognizant of the concern that global connectedness can create opportunities for neocolonial globalism.
URLhttp://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07393140903322604
DOI10.1080/07393140903322604
Short TitleGlobal Feminisms
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