29 research outputs found
Can Transnational Feminist Solidarity Accommodate Nationalism? Reflections from the Case Study of Korean âComfort Womenâ
Liberal Presumptions: A Response to Curtis
In his âCritical Response,â William Curtis presents three main criticisms against my position elaborated in âIn Defense of Nonliberal Nationalism.â First, he alleges that my conception of national membership is âvoluntaristâ and ultimately liberal. Second, he claims that my position on nonliberal democracy is âquintessentially liberal.â Third, he charges that my account of nonliberal nationalism would allow the oppression of minorities. The first charge is based on Curtisâs misreading of my article. The second charge is interesting and worthy of consideration in itself. Yet Curtis fails to advance a clear argument to support it. The third charge has been dealt with in my original article, but I shall restate it here to meet Curtisâs objection. Although I shall address all three, the focus will be on the second, as I believe that it poses the strongest challenge to my position. In responding to these charges, I shall provide necessary clarification and elaboration and thereby strengthen the critiques, as Curtisâs own arguments are often unclear or non-existent
Reclaiming Third World Feminism: Or Why Transnational Feminism Needs Third World Feminism
Third World and transnational feminisms have emerged in opposition to white second-wave feministsâ single-pronged analyses of gender oppression that elided Third World womenâs multiple and complex oppressions in their various social locations. Consequently, these feminisms share two âThird World feministâ mandates: First, feminist analyses of Third World womenâs oppression and resistance should be historically situated; and second, Third World womenâs agency and voices should be respected. Despite these shared mandates, they have diverged in their proper domains of investigation, with transnational feminism concentrating on the transnational level and Third World feminism focusing on local and national contexts. Further, their respective positions regarding nation-states and nationalism have been antithetical, as leading transnational feminists have categorically rejected nation-states and nationalism as detrimental to feminism. In recent decades, transnational feminism has become the dominant feminist position on Third World women, overshadowing Third World feminism, and the dismissal of nation-states and nationalism as irrelevant to feminism has become fashionable. Against this current trend, this article argues for the relevance of nation-states and nationalism for transnational feminism and the urgency of reclaiming Third World feminism
Confucian Family-State and Women: A Proposal for Confucian Feminism
I shall argue that, with a proper realignment of core Confucian values, an explicitly feminist reading of Confucianismâa conception of Confucian feminismâcould be constructed to promote the feminist goal of gender equality in contemporary Confucian societies. My paper proceeds in the following order: first, I shall identify two aspects of Confucianism implicated in the Confucian subjugation of women: li and family. Given the centrality of both li and family in Confucianism, it may seem that Confucianism is inherently antagonistic to the feminist goal of gender equality. In order to determine whether this is the case, I shall reconstruct the valuational system of Confucianism and examine the proper locations of li and family within it. I shall argue that Confucian ethics promotes womenâs self-cultivation on a par with menâs and that Confucian emphases on li and family do not necessitate the subjugation of women. However, some may worry that the importance of family in Confucianism may require the undivided attention of at least one parent, which in reality would be mostly the mother. To alleviate this worry, I shall argue that a democratic Confucian welfare state, entailed by the Confucian thought system, ought to pick up the responsibility of providing comprehensive assistance to families so that families can thrive in the Confucian polity