Amrita Basu

The Challenge of Local Feminisms Women's Movements in Global Perspective

* Foreword Susan V. Berresford. * Introduction Amrita Basu. Asia * Discovering the Positive Within the Negative: The Womens Movement in a Changing China Naihua Zhang with Wu Xu. * From Chipko to Sati: The Contemporary Indian Womens Movement Radha Kumar. * Men in Seclusion, Women in Public: Rokeyas Dream and Womens Struggles in Bangladesh Roushan Jahan. * Rebirthing Babaye: The Womens Movement in the Philippines Lilia Quindoza Santiago. Africa And The Middle East * The Dawn of a New Day: Redefining South African Feminism Amanda Kemp, Nozizwe Madlala, Asha Moodley, and Elaine Salo. * The Many Faces of Feminism in Namibia Dianne Hubbard and Colette Solomon. * The Mother of Warriors and Her Daughters: The Womens Movement in Kenya Wilhelmina Oduol and Wanjiku Mukabi Kabira. * Wifeism and Activism: The Nigerian Womens Movement Hussaina Abdullah. * Claiming Feminism, Claiming Nationalism: Womens Activism in the Occupied Territories Islah Jad. Latin America * Out of the Kitchens and onto the Streets: Womens Activism in Peru Cecilia Blondet. * Democracy in the Country and in the Home: The Womens Movement in Chile Alicia Frohmann and Teresa Valds. * Brazilian Feminism and Womens Movements: A Two-Way Street Vera Soares, Ana Alice Alcantara Costa, Cristina Maria Buarque, Denise Dourado Dora, and Wania SantAnna. * Building Bridges: The Growth of Popular Feminism in Mexico Marta Lamas, Alicia Martnez, Mara Luisa Tarrs, and Esperanza Tun (translated by Ellen Calmus). Russia, Europe, And The United States * Democracy Without Women Is No Democracy: Womens Struggles in Postcommunist Russia Elizabeth Waters and Anastasia Posadskaya. * Finding a Voice: Women in Postcommunist Central Europe Elzbieta Matynia. * Extending the Boundaries of Citizenship: Womens Movements of Western Europe Jane Jenson. * Feminism Lives: Building a Multicultural Womens Movement in the United States Leslie R. Wolfe and Jennifer Tucker.

APPROPRIATING GENDER : WOMEN'S ACTIVISM AND POLITICIZED RELIGION IN SOUTH ASIA

Appropriating Gender explores the paradoxical relationship of women to religious politics in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Contrary to the hopes of feminists, many women have responded to religious nationalist appeals; contrary to the hopes of religious nationalists, they have also asserted their gender, class, caste, and religious identities; contrary to the hopes of nation states, they have often challenged state policies and practices. Through a comparative South Asia perspective, Appropriating Gender explores the varied meanings and expressions of gender identity through time, by location, and according to political context. The first work to focus on womens agency and activism within the South Asian context, Appropriating Gender is an outstanding contribution to the field of gender studies.

Community conflicts and the state in India

Political conflicts around religious, caste and regional identities have multiplied in India. This volume brings together original essays that help us understand the growing incidence of community conflicts in India.

Commentary on “Comparative strength of women’s movements over time: conceptual, empirical, and theoretical innovations”

Scholarship on women’s movements emerged historically from feminist activism. Writing by predominantly white, middle class feminists about women’s movements that were led by the same demographic, generated critiques and alternative understandings of feminism by women of color and LGBT groups. Activists with different understandings of feminism played a crucial role in expanding our understandings of women’s movements. Feminist activism also inspired paradigm bending scholarship that advanced alternative epistemologies, methods and theories critiquing social science and calling for engaged, normative and interdisciplinary approaches. That was then. Today there is a trend toward making scholarship on women’s movements more rigorous and systematic by developing measurements which yield results that can be broadly generalized. Mazur, McBride and Hoard (2015) characterize this trend as the attempt to close the persistent gap between feminist and non-feminist research. While I do not reject their attempt to generalize and value their comparative approach, I believe there are costs to ignoring the epistemological and normative questions that emerge from feminist research. I also believe that we should devote more attention than they do to the political and economic context associated with the emergence and changing character of women’s movements and the relationship between these movements transnationally. Drawing on data from the Research Network on Gender Politics and the State (RNGS), Mazur, McBride and Hoard seek to explain variations in women’s movements’ strengths over three decades in 13 democracies in Western Europe and North America. One of the major goals of their ambitious research agenda is to develop valid, reliable and systematic ways of studying women’s movements across time and place. Their methodology rests on a comparison between two key dimensions of women’s movements, mobilization and institutionalization. One of their major findings is that institutionalization does not lead to demobilization in any of the 13 countries they examine. Rather, they argue that the presence of women’s movements has actually increased in all state and non-state institutions. My first point is that the argument appears to be tautological because the authors consider institutionalization both an indicator and an outcome of strong women’s movements. In other words, the very activity that women’s movements engage in, namely institutionalization, is also the outcome of their efforts. The fact that women’s movements have become increasingly

The gendered imagery and women's leadership of Hindu nationalism

Unlike most nationalist movements which invoke gendered images of women while repudiating their activism Hindu nationalism has encouraged the emergence of several prominent women leaders. This paper focuses on three of the most powerful women within Hindu nationalism: Vijayrae Scindia Uma Bharati and Sadhvi Rithambara. Having renounced their own sexuality these three women have used their religious aura to achieve their political ambitions. Locating themselves outside the domain of political power they speak from a position of moral superiority. They convey the message that women can assume activist roles without violating the norms of Hindu womanhood as they themselves have done. While Hinduism and Hindu nationalism may have provided them the opportunity to pursue their ambitions and develop their capabilities as women they have not gained a deep understanding of gender asymmetry or the limits of their own power because they are women. (authors)

Two Faces of Protest: Contrasting Modes of Women's Activism in India.@@@Toward Empowerment: Women and Movement Politics in India.

Drawing on case studies of the Communist Party of India in West Bengal and Shramik Sangathana in Maharashtra, this work examines Indian womens political activism. Investigating institutional changes at the state level and protest at the village level, Amrita Basu traces the paths of two kinds of political activism among these women. With insights gleaned from extensive interviews with activists, government officials, and ordinary men and women, she finds that militancy has been fueled by pronounced sexual class cleavages combined with potentially rancorous ethnic division.