Why Feminist Dissent?

Varma, Rashmi; Dhaliwal, Sukhwant; Nagarajan, Chitra

doi:10.31273/fd.n1.2016.6

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…While feminist literature is replenished with cases of women's dissent (from Okely 1990, to Varma et al 2016, the position (un)claimed by Pakistani women in Italy combines resistance to 'gender and racial profiling' at once, as they try to defy the intersectional vulnerability that tears apart their bodies and subjectivities. Scholars in feminist philosophy and legal theory (Mckenzie et al 2014) acknowledge a common primary human vulnerability that emerges from the relational interdependence of our existence: however, vulnerability is not evenly distributed but is often the outcome of multidimensional systems of structural social inequality.…”

Section: Preliminary Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resistant vulnerability: Voices of feminist dissent from the Panjabi minority in Italy

Bonfanti

2022

DiGeSt - Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies

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Set in Brescia, an Italian city with a sizeable Indo-Pakistani minority, this article considers the media panic that honor killings raised and echoed nationwide since 2006. Based on extensive ethnographic work, the article draws from participant observation and personal narratives shared with Panjabi locals to investigate such ‘cultural crimes’, pondering which status of victim is (self-)ascribed to ‘Brown immigrant’ women. While the remnants of a Mediterranean culture of ‘honor-and-shame’ is almost forgotten today in the country, the repressive control that South Asian women seem to endure within their domestic environments saw the simultaneous condemnation from different social actors. As racialized Islamophobia escalates, the protection of migrant/ethnic women from honour-related violence (HRV) becomes more complex: who is entitled to ‘defend’ them? When and where can these women raise their own voices? The intersectional resistance that Panjabi women in Italy oppose against the objectification inflicted on them by family, community and public discourses (liberal feminist, multicultural or chauvinist) can barely be heard. Concurring with critical literature on HRV, this article argues to critically interrogate the idea of culture as a motivation for violence against minority women but also recognizes the pervasiveness of such narrative in the strenuous efforts waged by the same subjects in voicing their distress.

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Section: Preliminary Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resistant vulnerability: Voices of feminist dissent from the Panjabi minority in Italy

Bonfanti

2022

DiGeSt - Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies

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“…Religious fundamentalism and women's rights are usually seen as mutually hostile forces (Varma et al, 2016). Examining religion and women's rights in South Asia shows that their relationship needs to be understood in the context of postcolonial nationalism rather than in terms of the politics of fundamentalism.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religion, nationalism, and gender: Perspective from South Asia

Deo

2020

Asian Journal of Comparative Politics

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Religious mobilization often takes the form of engagement with “the woman question”: how should women as carriers of culture comport themselves? This article shows that many of the debates over the role of women and religion in South Asia are misunderstood when they are seen as instances of religious fundamentalism. Rather, the theoretical framework to make sense of public religion and gender debates should be through the lens of postcolonial nationalism. The creation and consolidation of the nation is what is at stake—not the creation of the religious community as such. In order to make this argument, the article offers both a review of the literature on secularism and gender as well as short case studies from India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. These three former British colonies have each struggled to arrive at a secular settlement and often the contestation over the place of religion has centered on the rules and roles of women in these societies.

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“…It aimed to shape debates about how to ensure the freedoms of both women and religious people in multicultural Europe. Some feminist scholars, including Patel (2013), Yuval-Davis (2014), Badinter (2003) and Varma et al, (2016), argue that a form of secularism is the best way to ensure gender equality. They argue that allowing religious organisations political power enshrines gender inequality through state support for religious cultural practices that harm women (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Plusieurs érudits féministes, notamment Patel (2013), Yuval-Davis (2014), Badinter (2003) et Varma, Dhaliwal et Nagarajan (2016), soutiennent qu'une certaine forme de laïcité est le meilleur moyen d'assurer l'égalité homme-femme. Ils affirment qu'accorder un pouvoir politique aux organisations religieuses consacre l'inégalité entre les sexes à travers le soutien de l'État à des pratiques culturelles religieuses qui nuisent aux femmes (par ex.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified