The Radical Limits of Decolonising Feminism

Bibliographic Data

ID3946165
AuthorsSuzanne C Persard (0000-0002-5215-3717, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume128
Issue1
Pages13-27
Publication date2021-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFeminist Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-7789 • E-ISSN: 1466-4380
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/01417789211015334
OpenAlexW3185715070
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited18

From yoga to the Anthropocene to feminist theory, recent calls to 'decolonise' have resulted in a resurgence of the term. This article problematises the language of the decolonial within feminist theory and pedagogy, problematising its rhetoric, particularly in the context of the US. The article considers the romanticised transnational solidarities produced by decolonial rhetoric within feminist theory, asking, among other questions: What are the assumptions underpinning the decolonial project in feminist theory? How might the language of 'decolonising' serve to actually de-politicise feminism, while keeping dominant race logics in place? Furthermore, how does decolonial rhetoric in sites such as the US continue to romanticise feminist solidarities while positioning non-US-born women of colour at the pedagogical end of feminist theory? I argue that 'decolonial', in its current proliferation, is mainstreamed uncritically while serving as a catachresis within feminist discourse. This article asks feminism to reconsider its ease at an incitement to decolonise as a caution for resisting the call to decolonise as simply another form of multicultural liberalism that masks oppression through imagined transnational solidarities, while calling attention to the homogenous construction of the 'Global South' within decolonising discourse

Critical theory · Feminism · Feminist philosophy · Feminist theory · Heteronormativity · Liberalism · Linguistics · Multiculturalism · Oppression · Political science · Politics · Queer · Rhetoric · Sociology · Critical Race Theory in Education · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Law · Philosophy · Posthumanist Ethics and Activism

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