Feminism in India and the West

Recasting a Relationship

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3878076
AutoresMary E John (Centre for Women's Development Studies, autor de correspondencia)
Año1998
Volumen10
Número2
Páginas197-209
Fecha de publicación1998-07-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCultural Dynamics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0921-3740 • E-ISSN: 1461-7048
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/092137409801000207
OpenAlexW1967787570
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas13
Referencias citadas11

This paper discusses the established forms in which the westernness of feminism has been a problem in the Indian context, and suggests some alternate routes for addressing it. The colonial legacy and the identification of women with national culture have made for a selective identification of feminism with an inauthentic westernization. The paper goes on to discuss some of the divergences in the conceptual legacies of western and Indian feminism, and the problems of using analogous arguments from western contexts in India. It focuses especially on the misleading role that critiques of essentialism are currently playing in Indian feminist debates, and concludes by calling for a more careful appraisal of the effects of growing disparities on patriarchal structures

Colonialism · Essentialism · Feminism · Modernization theory · Political science · Sociology · Westernization · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · History · Indian History and Philosophy · Law · Ecology