Clarke, Jan

English

Canadian Woman Studies / les cahiers de la femme (E-Journal, York University)

colour are exoticised, sometimes demonized. African-American writer Alice Dunbar-Nelson's engagement with race is sublimated into ques- tions of the parentage and sexual danger of her orphan character in "Sister Josepha." But these stories are potentially subversive if read in con- text. A collection such as this allows them to achieve a cumulative effect whereby their critiques and lacunae become increasingly apparent. The bookis nicely produced. There are biographical notes and a portrait with each story. Stephenson rightly assumes that the collection will whet the appetite, and has provided much use l l  bibliographical material. Stephenson ambitiously reads across national traditions and com- pares them, and the state of scholar- ship, in Canada, Britain and the United States. In her judgment, schol- ars are further along in the project of rediscovery and recuperation ofwom- en's short fiction in America; more critical work needs to be done in Britain; and Canadianists face very basic difficulties in even recovering much of the material. Some of this work is already being taken up, and compelling collections such as this one can only encourage us to read further. WOMEN IN MOVEMENT: FEMINISM AND SOCIAL CHANGE Sheila Rowbotham. New York: Routledge, 1992. by Jan CCarke Women in Movement traces women's contributions to social movements in many countries from the late 1700s to the early 1990s. This book high- lights ways in which women find different points ofentry and access to resources for individual and collec- tive action. There is a focus on femi- nist and socialist political action to confront systemic oppressions, but Rowbotham never looses sight of the personal emancipation which is often so central to actions in which women choose to participate. Also, the im- portance of understanding feminism as dynamic is reinforced by empha- sizing that the experiences of women in earlier social movements still in- form contemporary feminist strug- gles. While this is primarily an his- torical introduction to women's par- ticipation in social movements, it is also an important reminder of the diverse historical underpinnings which shape current debates in femi- nism. In Women in Movement, historical accounts follow a general chronologi- cal order based on themes such as equality, women's difference, the per- sonal and the political individualism, collectivity, the scope of rights, and the definition of needs. Under each topic, Rowbotham links ideas and actions in many political and cultural . - contexts by focussing on how wom- en's experiences have been perceived and analyzed, how social change oc- curs, and the different world views which shape action. While many of Rowbotham's ac- counts ofearlierwomen's movements are located in Europe and North America, she clearly includes histori- cal accounts from Third World coun- tries in order to further elaborate on racism, ethnicity, colonialism and imperialism. It is the many glimpses ofwomen's lives in particular histori- cal and cultural contexts which dem- onstrates both thecomplexity ofwom- en's movements and the persistance of women's oppressions. From her viewpoint: "although international interactions resulted in theoretical crossovers, every new beginning has assumed differing shapes. It is as if thousands and thousands of women were busy making agiganticgarment, borrowing and creating their own patterns." In Women in Movemmt it is strik- ing that women's political actions throughout the world are not seen as isolated. Instead, Rowbotham has carefLlly traced the dissemination of ideas, and the sharing of strategies which shapes social movements, par- ticularly ones from a socialist per- spective. Since Rowbotham covers such a broad base, women in many cultures do tend to be presented as glimpses interspersed among the Eu- ropeanandNorthAmericana~un~. This is balanced, however, by de- tailed chapters which specifically fo- cus on women's long history of col- lective action under different politi- cal circumstances in Russia, India, and China. While Rowbotham continually points to theoretical debates to ex- plain historical accounts, she also manages to leave women's stories to stand more or less alone. In the final sections, she returns in more detail to the 'knots' of feminist theoretical debates as a means of connecting the threads she has unravelled. By par- tially untangling these theoretical knots she offers some direction for ongoing political action for social change. She also makes it clear that these same knots "do not just need cutting and untangling, but provide nodular clues for making new con- nections and reorientating thinking." Women in Movement is a well writ- ten, thorough introduction to femi- nism and social action which demon- strates the long and diverse history of women's political struggles through- out the world. Rowbotham not only sparks an interest in delving in more detail into many of the social move- ments she introduces, she also sheds light on contemporary feminist theo- retical debates. VOLUME 14, NUMBER 4 

Women in Movement: Feminism and Social Change

https://cws.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cws/article/download/9584/8701

Women in Movement: Feminism and Social Change

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Canadian Woman Studies / les cahiers de la femme (E-Journal, York University)