Emejulu, Akwugo

English

In this article I examine the fate of feminist justice claims in the context ofgrassroots populist movements in the United States. By exploring populism onthe left—in neighbourhood community organising—and on the right—withinthe community organising among the Tea Party—I argue that a “politics ofauthenticity” is deployed in each movement with strikingly similar effects onthe development of feminist consciousness and justice claims in eachmovement. In left-wing community organising I find that feminist claims aresuppressed in order to preserve solidarity among grassroots actors and to beperceived by movement outsiders as patriotic. On the right I demonstrate howwomen-centric practices are generated through the strategic use of an identityI label “concerned motherhood”. For the Tea Party, women appear to have theability to identify as women for local action but this process seems to threatenboth feminism and democracy by women’s support for a politics of inequality.I conclude with a discussion about whether feminism and populism can bereconciled and the perils that confront feminist activists in the current upsurgeof populist movements around the globe

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Can “the people” be feminists? Analysing the fate of feminist justice claims in populist grassroots movements in the United States

Can “the people” be feminists? Analysing the fate of feminist justice claims in populist grassroots movements in the United States

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