Feminist Post-Development Thought: Rethinking Modernity, Post-Colonialism and Representation

by Kriemild Saunders (Editor)

Overview

In this groundbreaking collection with its diverse perspectives, feminist thinkers explore whether Third World women ought to continue along the path of development or abandon full-scale modernization and seek post-development alternatives instead. It represents the first attempt to ascertain the possibilities, and limitations, of the post-development path for women.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781856499477
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	10/01/2002
Series:	Zed Books on Women and Development
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Kriemild Saunders teaches sociology at St. John's University-Staten Island. She received her PhD from The Graduate School/University Center-CUNY. Her wide-ranging interests include sexuality, queer practices, gender, development, race & class relations.
Kriemild Saunders teaches sociology at St. John's University-Staten Island. She received her PhD from The Graduate School/University Center-CUNY. Her wide-ranging interests include sexuality, queer practices, gender, development, race & class relations.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Towards a Deconstructive Post-Development Criticism - Kriemild Saunders

Part I: Aiding Development
1. Lessons from the Field: Rethinking Empowerment, Gender and Development in a Post (Post?) Development Perspective - Jane Parpart
2. Dismantling the Master‘s House with the Master‘s Tools? Gender Work in and with Powerful Bureaucracies - Kathleen Staudt
3. Trails of Turquoise: Feminist Enquiry and Counter-development in Ladakh, India - Ravina Aggarwal

Part II: Locating Women/Locating Work
4. Countergeographies of Globalization: Feminization of Survival - Saskia Sassen
5. Engendering Globalization in an Era of Transnational Capital: New Cross-Border Alliances and Strategies of Resistance in a Post-NAFTA Mexico - Marianne Marchand

Part III: More Worldly Feminisms
6. Development: Feminist Theory‘s Cul-de-Sac - Marnia Lazreg
7. Picture more at Variance, of Desires and Development in the People‘s Republic of China - Tani Barlow
8. Developmentalist Feminism and Neocolonialism in the Andean Communities - Frederique Apffel-Marglin and Loyda Sanchez

Part IV: The Science Question in Development
9. Mad Cows and Sacred Cows - Vandana Shiva 10. Global Circulations: Nature, Culture and the Possibility of Sustainable Development - Banu Subramaniam, James Bever and Peggy Schulz
11. Do the Marginalized Valorize the Margins? Exploring the Dangers of Difference - Meera Nanda

Part V: Stories From the Field: Theorizing Action/Acting on Theory
12. Participatory Research: A Tool in the Production of Knowledge in the Development Discourse - Patience Elabor-Idemudia
13. Ethnographic Acts: Writing Women and Other Political Fields - Piya Chatterjee
14. Practising Theory through Women‘s Bodies: Public Violence and Women Strategies of Power and Place - Ramona Perez

Part VI: Other Bodies
15. Body Politics: Revisiting the Population Question - Wendy Harcourt
16. Reproductive Technology: From a Third World Feminist Perspective - Esther Wangari
17. Gender, Bodies and Cosmos in Mesoamerica - Sylvia Marcos

Editorial Reviews

In this landmark volume, world-class feminists undo Western thinking on gender, development, and modernity. Women's empowerment over materialism, sociality over relentless progress, and sustainability over biological invasion are some of the post development alternatives proposed. Indeed, the lively theory and vivid examples show that the well being of women in the South is tied up with the fate of the planet itself. This indispensable resource will appeal to scholars and activists in many fields.” —Aihwa Ong, author of Flexible Citizenship: the Cultural Logic of Transnationality

“This is such an up-to-the-feminist-minute book. If one ever imagines that radical feminist thinkers or feminist cultural studies scholars can leave women in development to those who know about digging wells and sampling soil, think again. Kriemild Saunders and her savvy, worldly contributors make one realise that development is about the gendered constructions of desire, romanticism, icons, co-optation, consumerism and green tourism.” —Cynthia Enloe, author of Bananas, Beaches and Bases

“Here is a challenging set of inquiries about development from various feminist perspectives, particularly the questions of progress and post-development alternatives. This anthology is a noteworthy contribution to current discussions about globalization, survival, the ecological crisis and strategies for action.” —Lourdes Beneria, Cornell University

From the Publisher