Introduction

What is Transnational Feminism?

Transnational feminism is a discipline that emerged out of feminist discourse in the 1990s, seeking to critically examine the asymmetries and connections present between groups of people divided up by geopolitical borders and distinctions of power and identity (Savci). Transnational scholars look at systems of exchange and ask how this impacts people divided by gender, race, religion, nationality, and other identities. “Culture” may be thought of as a force that is not simply stationed within the physical location of a nation or region; it is exported and exchanged by individuals and groups, shaped by the workings of power and history that pervade it (Savci). Gender, as understood by a transnational feminist, is a political and social category that, influenced by categories of race, class, and others, produces asymmetrical social power for men, women, and those who align with other gender identities. Transnational feminism emphasizes the critical work of holding space for identity difference and the unlimited truths and experiences that exist across all beings. As described by Indigenous Sociologist Carmela Roybal, radically contextualizing the multifaceted histories, knowledges, and experiences of human beings across different cultures and times makes a better tomorrow possible. Transnational feminism calls on individual and community healing founded on values and practices of decolonization, transformative justice, and restorative justice to propel our society forward on a journey towards a future of radical, queer, connected, and decolonized being.

Overview of GWS 183 – Transnational Feminist Theories

Professora Esther Hernández-Medina, PhD, is a dedicated, thoughtful, knowledgeable, and supportive scholar who has helped guide this class through learning transnational feminist theories. Profe Esther is an academic, sociologist, activist, feminist, and public policy expert from the Dominican Republic. She specializes in feminist and gender theory in Latin America and the Caribbean. The history of her professional career and studies, as well as her own lived experiences and individual identity allowed Profe Esther to curate and teach the foundations of transnational feminist theory with passionate expertise, and endless curiosity.

In Transnational Feminist Theories, we learned to deconstruct gender as a social construct implicated by nationality, culture, location, race, class, and more. This deconstruction was grounded in a sociological imaginative analysis of the legacies of colonialism as demonstrated by radical activists and scholars. For instance, Maria Lugones work on the Coloniality of Gender and Sarah Lucia Hoagland’s theory on the Aspects of the Coloniality of Knowledge contextualized all proceeding theories and feminist ideologies explored in this course. The writings of Manuel Castells, Debjani Chakravarty, and Eva Rathgeber provided a foundation of transnational feminism by exploring social movement theory, gender and development, and Third World feminisms.

Transnational feminism centers the voices and experiences of marginalized feminists around the world with the acknowledgement that each identity critically contributes to a larger body of knowledge of feminist thought. Starting with different feminist movements in the United States, our class explored the feminist movements of marginalized communities working to resist and heal from intersectional systems of oppression and coloniality. For instance, our class studied Black Feminist Thought (BFT) through the works of Anna Julia Cooper, Audre Lorder, Sojourner Truth, the Combahee River Collective, and the Santa Cruz Feminist of Color Collective. Additionally, the work of different Indigenous feminists such as Carmen Yupe and Luhui Whitebear outlined the challenges, needs, and resistance efforts of Indigenous communities. Women of Color feminists Gloria Anzaldúa and Mitsuye Yamada were also important voices and contributors to the study of transnational feminist theory as it pertains to borderland experiences of womanhood, gender, race, queerness, community, belonging, and culture in the US.

The Transnational Feminist Theories class branched out into different world regions, starting with Postcolonial feminisms and the South Asian Feminist Movement by reading Ecofeminism, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s Can the Subaltern Speak?, Mary John, and Chandra Talpade Mohanty. Thinking about Decolonial Feminist theory and the Latin American and Caribbean Feminist movements brought us to the works of Anibal Quijano, Arturo Escobar, Ochy Curiel, and more. Finishing up our regional feminist discourse, we dove into Islamic Feminist Theory by studying the writings of Amina Wadud, Raja Rhouni, Saba Mahmood, and Lara Deeb.

Towards the end of our class, we considered the topics of globalization, diasporas, and borderlands through a number of readings and analytical conversations. For instance, poet and performer Josefina Báez joined our class as a guest presenter, opening the dialogue surrounding embodied and movement based healing. We looked into resistance movements of conservative and religious groups in Latin America and how Queer and LGBTQ+ movements co-op with transnational movements by reading Flávia Biroli, A. M. Goetz, Susan Moller Okin, Javier Corrales, and Peter Hart-Brinson. In a class-selected topic, we read about transnational feminist theory concerning men and masculinity in works such as bell hook’s Feminist Manhood and other essays by J.J. Bola, and Serrano Amaya and colleagues. To finish our class, we read Barbara Sutton’s article about the struggle for abortion rights by Argentinian feminists which highlights sisterhood and coalition-building across generations.

Throughout our course, we engaged in discussions, writing assignments, essay analysis, and group activities to break down the complex topics that transnational feminists debate. We had the privilege of listening to different guest speakers who came and discussed concepts they specialized in, such as Carmela Roybal’s Indigenous feminist public policy work, Arisleyda Dilone’s films on intersexuality, Ruth Pión’s Afro-Caribbean anthropology and sociology, and more. In Transnational Feminist Theories, each student was introduced to new frameworks for thinking about the very issues transnational feminists are most concerned about: identity and difference.

Course Objectives

1. Learn about yourself and the intellectual, cultural, and personal resources and abilities you bring to the class.
2. Study and practice the ability to look at reality from different points of view by developing your own “sociological imagination” (C. Wright Mills).
3. Learn how to participate in difficult and constructive dialogues.
4. Learn key theoretical frameworks and concepts regarding gender, feminism, the coloniality of knowledge and the coloniality of gender in order to challenge the hegemony of the global North in the construction of feminist theory.
5. Learn about some of the most important transnational feminist theories around the world and the movements associated with them starting with those created by feminists usually excluded to the margins here in the United States.
6. Learn about some of the key current debates taking place in feminist theory and practice around the world including one theme to be chosen by the class.
7. Apply the concepts and frameworks detailed in goals 4 to 6 to understand the world around us (starting with works of art, films and public events), and then explore and analyze a topic you are passionate about or want to learn more about from the perspective of the class.
8. Learn to use digital resources and work collaboratively to improve your research and create your final class project: a digital book with essays about transnational feminist theory you are going to put together along with your group throughout the semester!

Why We Made This Book

As Profe Esther puts it, theories are like maps. Scholars and thinkers put together models, concepts, and bodies of literature that act as frameworks for understanding how and why our world works the way it does. By using a transnational feminist framework, we as students utilized this learning environment to begin unpacking questions surrounding identity, difference, positionality, collectivity, and subjectivity. Through the guidance and wisdom of Profe Esther, our learning community developed an understanding of various feminist theories and actions across different cultures and communities around the world. These teachings served as the foundation for our final research projects which we have compiled into this co-created body of work.

Early in the semester, we were tasked with selecting a topic connected to our class and to start thinking about how we might approach writing an in-depth research paper on the subject. In our assignments, each student developed a body of transnational feminist literature to serve as our theoretical framework, or map, to understand the events of our chosen case study. Using the teachings of this course to guide research and analysis processes, students each chose their own topic to dissect as part of this larger co-created body of knowledge. An open-ended prompt for this project led students to selecting a range of different topics such as socio-political gender based disparities, transnational feminist movements and organizations, and anything in between. The process of these works notably relied on the collaborative efforts of students, Profe Esther, and other scholars in the transnational feminist community. Continuous peer feedback and collaborative brainstorming helped each student refine their essays into the works presented in this book.

By sharing our work in an open-access book, we celebrate the achievement of individual and community growth in our roles as students and transnational feminists. Each of us in the Spring 2024 Transnational Feminist Theories class invites you, dear reader, to dive into a diverse collection of essays focused on a variety of topics in transnational feminist discourse.

References

Desai, Manisha. 2015. “Critical Cartography, Theories, and Praxis of Transnational Feminisms” in Rawwida Baksh and Wendy Harcourt (eds). The Oxford Handbook of Transnational Feminist Movements. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199943494.013.016 Pages 116-130.

Savci, Evren. 2021. “Transnational” in The Keywords Feminist Editorial Collective (ed). Keywords in Gender and Sexuality Studies. New York: New York University Press