A Feminist Analysis of Vivah Ke Geet (Wedding Songs)

This paper provides a collection of analysed wedding songs and is the third in a series of three papers that extrapolate how gender ideals are emphasized through popular folk practices The folksongs at the centre of this paper were being actively performed in IndoFijian wedding ceremonies throughout Fiji and in some cases in weddings in various other nations where IndoFijian diaspora exist therefore practitioners of wedding songs are noted as significant sources in this paper This paper reads these songs using a feminist lens that is informed by the works of several feminist authors but specifically using the theories put forward by Judith Butler The analysis of the songs shows how certain patriarchal ideologies and stereotypical feminine attributes are emphasised upon society and particularly females in a certain cultural and ethnic contex

The Potential of Positioning: Assessing New Directions for an Integrated, Feminist International Political Economy

Feminist analyses of International Political Economy (IPE) currently face a significant epistemological challenge. By seeking to engage with mainstream political economists, feminist IPE scholars have narrowed the interdisciplinary approach that is common in most contemporary feminist scholarship to instead focus almost exclusively on the effects of neoliberal globalization. However, this focus has proved unsuccessful in garnering the interest of most mainstream international political economists and has isolated these scholars from feminist research in other disciplines. This paper argues that feminist IPE could gain significant leverage within its field by employing an interdisciplinary approach that links broader feminist issue such as violence against women to political economy. This is examined by reviewing some of the major feminist works in IPE and assessing their reception within the field of IPE. Next, the potential for broader feminist issues to garner mainstream attention in IPE is assessed by evaluating the economic implications of violence against women. In altering their epistemology to include a broader feminist analysis, feminist IPE scholars can effectively illustrate the need for feminist analysis in IPE while also wedding their research to the rich, interdisciplinary research of feminists in other fields

10-03 "The Relational Economy: A Buddhist and Feminist Analysis"

Writings on the topic of Buddhism and economics seem to be characterized by two very different attitudes towards economic life. The first, drawing from historical Buddhist teachings in primarily pre-industrial contexts, takes a largely positive view of commerce. The second, in which a modern influence is considerably more apparent, is suspicious of economics at a "systemic" level, and takes an antagonistic stance towards contemporary corporations and markets. This essay argues that the latter view is based on an unhelpful assimilation of a modern Western belief - the belief that economic systems are non-relational - and proposes a richer understanding.

Feminist Analysis of Adaptations of the Ramayana

Ramayana and Mahabharata have seen many adaptations down the centuries. Recent ones like Volga’s The Liberation of Sita or Amish Tripathi’s Sita: Warrior of Mithila take up the woman question and reinterpret the story from a feminist perspective. This paper attempts to discuss the above nuances with reference to feminist critics like Wollstonecraft and Butler while also referring to other reinterpretations of the epic. I will discuss the short stories of Volga through a feminist lens and focus on the questioning of the caste system in Tripathi. Not only will I use Western texts but also refer to Indian texts like the Manusmriti to give a theoretical grounding to some of the basic understandings obtained. I will base some of my opinions on the popular reception of Ramayana across the country as documented by Madhu Kishwar. Other texts by Kavita Kane or Nabaneeta Dev Sen will also be take up to get a better understanding of the woman writing about another woman. It will come up through these discussions that the love for Ramayana is not only based on an unequivocal worshiping of Ram, but an equal questioning of his acts and a sympathetic identification with Sita

A Feminist Analysis of Pelvic Exam Violence

Gynecological violence is a pervasive global issue, though it has long been broadly neglected withinmedical institutions. One site of such violence is the pelvic exam.This thesis examines the issue of pelvic exam violence, mainly pelvic exams that are conducted by medical students on unconscious individuals without prior consent for training purposes. Utilizing a critical discourse analysis of medical journal articles written about pelvic exams and consent, this paper argues that the arguments of both proponents and opponents of explicit consent within the medical field uphold dominant power paradigms of racism and patriarchy within medical institutions and education. Additionally, while legislation mandating consent is necessary, this paper concludes that much deeper change is needed to norms of medical care, education, and culture

Statecraft and Pursuing Women's Rights in Africa

This particular primer maps key areas of feminist analysis and intervention in governance. Based on existing research on the major factors that hinder women's political participation, emphasis is placed on electoral systems, political parties, quotas and national constitutional mechanisms. These are also areas where the impact of the women's rights movement has been felt. This primer therefore assesses the ways in which women's participation in governance has been assured, the challenges arising from these approaches, and lessons therein. This primer is intended to benefit women's rights activists and organisations at the frontline of local and national mobilisation initiatives that  seek to enhance women's leadership. We hope the primer is useful for building alliances and structuring support across various institutions working towards enhancing women's political participation

M-powerment

A proposal for a presentation on a feminist analysis of S/M cultur

Agency and servitude in platform labour:a feminist analysis of blended cultures

Digital labour platforms have become important sites of negotiation between expressions of micro-entrepreneurship, worker freedom and dignity of work. In the Global South, these negotiations are overlaid on an already fraught relationship mediated by the dynamics of caste and culture, to the usual politics of difference. Urban Company (UC), an app-based, on-demand platform in India that connects service providers offering home-based services to potential customers, lists professionalised services that have hitherto been considered part of a ‘culture of servitude’, performed by historically marginalised groups afforded little dignity of labour. Such platforms offer the possibility of disrupting the entrenched ‘master-servant’ relationship that exists in many traditional cultures in the Global South by their ostensibly professional approach. While service providers now have the opportunity for self-employment and gain ‘respectability’ by being associated with the platform, UC claims to have leveraged AI to automate discipline in everything the providers do. Using interviews with UC women service providers involved in beauty work and software development engineers, this paper explores the agency afforded to service partners in both professional and personal spheres. Further, we propose the term blended cultures to think about the ways in which algorithms and human cultures mutually (re)make each other.</p