Overview

Definition of Terms

Postcolonial Feminist Theories

Chandra Mohanty
Terms

Colonialism- control by one power over a
dependent area

Imperialism- the policy, practice, or
advocacy of extending the power and
dominion of a nation by direct territorial
acquisition or indirect control over the political
or economic life of other areas

Hegemony-The predominant influence, as
of a state, region, or group, over another or
others
Terms

Ethnocentrism- based on the attitude that
one’s own group is superior

Third World- specific geographical areas
and “imaginary spaces”
 Latin America, the Caribbean, African,
Southeast Asia, China, Oceania
 Also includes people of color in the US,
Europe and Australia- black, indigenous,
Latino, Asian
Postcolonial Feminist Theories

Thinkers: Trinh T. Minh-Ha, Gayatri Spivak,
Chandra Mohanty, Maria Fernandez-Kelly,
Maria Mies, Ester Boserup, Uma Narayan

Description of Problem:
– Undercutting of women’s traditional
economic base by colonialism
– Exploitation of women workers in the postcolonial economy
– Lack of education for girls
– Inadequate maternal and child health care
Postcolonial Feminist Theories

Analysis:
– Sexism, racism, imperialism, capitalism,
colonialism
– Patriarchal family structures
– Traditional cultural practices that are
harmful to women

Remedies:
– Protection of women’s economic resources
in modernization
– Education, health care, family planning
– Community women’s organizing
– Eradication of practices such as female
genital mutilation
Postcolonial Feminist Theories

Contributions:
– Gender analyses of modernization and
economic restructuring
– Data on exploitation of women and children
workers
– Women’s rights as human rights
– Understanding of connection between 1st
and 3rd world

Shortcomings:
– Western ideas of women’s independence
can undercut community
– Cultural diversity vs. universal women’s
rights (micro vs. macro change)
Chandra Mohanty

“Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing
Theory, Practicing Solidarity”

“Discursive colonization” of much
Western feminist theory and
scholarship
– Global hegemony of western scholarship

She provides:
1.
A critique of how Western feminists
construct the 3rd world and 3rd world women
Creation of feminisms that are historically
and culturally grounded
2.
Chandra Mohanty

Critique of Western Feminist Theory about 3rd
world women
– Western feminists have created a binary of
Western vs. non-western
– Produced work that has created a
monolithic, singular, universal 3rd world
woman
– This 3rd world woman is uneducated,
traditional, powerless, family-oriented,
outside history, evolutionarily backward,
and has no choices
– This conception limits knowledge of
women globally and limits coalition-building
Chandra Mohanty
Invisibility of 3rd world feminism in
literature
 Creation of new types of feminisms and
feminist theories that include:

– Local, cross-national, cross-cultural
analyses
– Race, class, state, liberation struggles
• Examples/immigration laws, multinational
companies and labor forces participation
– Imagined community- horizontal
comradeship
• Political alliances rather than biological or
cultural