Sustaining Democracy: Localization, Globalization, and Feminist Praxis

Abstract

Following contemporary discussions of environmental sustainability, I view sustainable democracy as an approach that remains open to diversity, promotes well‐being for all social actors, and advances social justice. The notion of sustaining democracy that I adopt foregrounds everyday practical and participatory strategies that are self‐consciously tied to a vision of the future which will be more economically equitable, peaceful, inclusive, and socially just. However, I argue, a political vision cannot be enacted without an epistemological articulation that informs political practice. Feminist praxis contains, in its epistemological formulation, a reflexive process by which lessons from past activist engagements are incorporated into contemporary efforts, which, in turn, are further reflected upon in changing political and cultural contexts. Feminist praxis is further deepened by incorporating epistemological insights from feminist theories of intersectionality to inform its political methodology. I illustrate the possibilities of intersectional feminist praxis for sustaining democratic practice with attention to five different dimensions: strategies for inclusion, methods of empowerment, countering power imbalances, organizing across differences, and processes of reflexivity.

Feminist Identity, Feminist Politics

“…Overall, we predict that feminist identity in the general public does represent a coherent and strong politically progressive perspective: one that transcends conventional measures of political ideology and is consistent with the concept of an intersectional feminist praxis (Naples 2013). Research Question 2: Does feminist identity's effect interact with gender, age, education, and political ideology?…”

“…, Lorber 2012;Naples 2013;Reger 2012). These scholars have articulated the need to promote feminist politics that are intersectional, that is, attentive to interlocking systems of oppression such as gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and class (e.g.…”

Transversal and Postmodern Feminist Praxis in Everyday Politics

“…as a case study, and it sits in conversation with postmodern and transversal feminist theorists, particularly the recent work of Patricia Hill Collins (2017) that builds on Nira Yuval-Davis (1997) and others, to argue that political action is most effective when transversal practice is layered onto intersectional politics and that, despite Hill Collins' concern that political practice has yet to move to effective transversalism (2017,1471), transversal feminist praxis can be found in examples of everyday politics which offer hope for social transformation. Feminist praxis is usually a conscious, reflexive, process of moving from theory to application in order to create transformations (see, for example, Allen 2000; Archer Mann 2012; Cho, Crenshaw, and McCall 2013;De Reus, Few, and Balter Blume 2005;Evans 2016;Hesse-Biber 2012;Naples 2013;and Sharp et al 2017). We want to expand the scope of feminist praxis, however, to include moments in which feminist theory explains political transformations that may not be deliberate, but that result in a feminist outcome: the pursuit of gender equality through personal and political transformation.…”

Agir avec les jeunes femmes de la rue pour une praxis de l’intersectionnalité — Réflexion autour du projet PARVIS1 2

“…L'étude d' Evans (2016), réalisée auprès de groupes féministes étudiants du Royaume-Uni, montre néanmoins la façon dont l'intersectionnalité est présente dans leurs réflexions, mais révèle que les catégories d'analyse qui y sont au coeur limitent la portée de leurs actions. Cela rappelle qu'au-delà des identités/formations de genre, de race et de classe, souvent mises de l'avant dans les écrits sur l'intersectionnalité, il importe de s'intéresser aux catégorisations qui émergent des discours des femmes dans une perspective d'inclusion (Naples, 2013). Enfin, appuyé par les écrits de Bilge (2014; 2015) et de Cho, Crenshaw et McCall (2013), on peut 115 définir qu'une praxis de l'intersectionnalité réfère directement au mode de production des connaissances qui doit en lui-même être émancipatoire, porteur de transformation sociale et contestataire.…”