Womens Movements in Asia
This book is a comprehensive study of womens activism across Asia. With chapters written by leading international experts, it provides a full overview of the history of feminism, as well as the current context of the womens movement in twelve countries: the Philippines, China and Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Korea, India and Pakistan.
Womens movements in Asia were simultaneously transnational in outlook and indigenizing in orientation. This volume provides country-focused case studies that help us understand the contexts within which national essence feminism emerged in Asia. Western feminisms were immediately identified as Other compelling each Asian country to search for its own unique answers to the woman question by deconstructing how the feminine was constructed not just by culture and religions but also by history and the experiences of colonialism and imperialism. The chapters reveal how Asian activists mobilized transnational forums and protocols to legitimize their specific national campaigns.
Each chapter includes a comprehensive bibliography of key works in the field making it ideal for courses on women and feminism in Asia. It will appeal both to students and specialists in the fields of gender and social and political history.
Louise Edwards is Professor of Modern China Studies at the University of Hong Kong.
Mina Roces is an Associate Professor in the School of History and Philosophy, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Experts in analysing gender issues offer this unique comparative analysis of the evolution of national essence feminism in the context of global feminism. To find out how the womens movement in twelve Asian nations have fought for bodily autonomy, participation in politics and religion, new definitions of womanhood, changed family relations and much more this book is the best (indeed the only) one to read.
Chilla BulbeckProfessor emerita and visiting research fellow, The University of Adelaide, Australia
Womens Movements in Asia
Feminisms and transnational activism
Edited by
Mina Roces and Louise Edwards
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2010
by Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
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This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010.
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2010 Editorial Selection and matter, Mina Roces and Louise Edwards.
Individual chapters, the contributor.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Womens movements in Asia: feminisms and transnational activism/
edited by Mina Roces and Louise Edwards.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. FeminismAsia. 2. WomenPolitical activityAsia. 3. Transnationalism.
I. Roces, Mina, 1959 II. Edwards, Louise P.
HQ1726.W695 2010
305.42095dc22
2009047320
ISBN 0-203-85123-4 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN: 978-0-415-48702-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-48703-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-85123-4 (ebk)
Contents
MINA ROCES
|
SUSAN BLACKBURN
|
MINA ROCES
|
LOUISE EDWARDS
|
LENORE LYONS
|
BARBARA MOLONY
|
MONICA LINDBERG FALK
|
ALESSANDRA CHIRICOSTA
|
ADELYN LIM
|
ANDREA FLESCHENBERG
|
SEUNG-KYUNG KIM AND KYOUNGHEE KIM
|
TRUDY JACOBSEN
|
SUMI MADHOK
|
Acknowledgements
This book is a testament to the value of academic conference networking. It had its origins in a conversation between Routledge Editor, Stephanie Rogers, Mina Roces and Louise Edwards at the International Congress of Asian Scholars in Shanghai in 2005. Once the team of contributors had formed, some authors presented their first drafts at the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) conference hosted by Monash University in 2008. Yet others presented their work at the ASAAs Women in Asia Conference held at the University of Queensland, also in 2008. At each of these events, colleagues from around the world provided invaluable feedback and interrogation of the concepts and details of the chapters. To those who participated, thank you for your collegiality. You will notice many of your ideas have been incorporated into this final version.
The volume also provides evidence that the transnational nature of feminism is alive and well in the academic community as well as among the activists and organizers discussed in the volume. Contributors to this book are drawn from around the world: Europe, Asia, Australasia and the USA. For some authors, this is their first opportunity to work together on a joint project. For others, it reflects an ongoing commitment to team projects.
All books draw on the time and energies of people beyond the academic authors. The editors would like to thank Samantha Hauw, Claire Moore, Raina Anne Bernardez, Alan Walker, Xi Ping, Steven Xuezhong Su, Darrel Dorrington and Shashim Sharma for their invaluable assistance. Grants from the Australian Research Council supported the project and the Faculty of Arts at the University of New South Wales provided funds for the production of the index. We would also like to acknowledge the enthusiasm and energy provided by Routledge, in particular Stephanie Rogers and her team of Leanne Hinves and Sonja Van Leeuwen.
Finally we would like to thank our partners, Martyn Lyons and Kam Louie for their continued support of our ongoing efforts to promote knowledge of feminism and womens movements in Asia.
Mina Roces, Sydney
Louise Edwards, Hong Kong
Contributors
Susan Blackburn is an Associate Professor in the School of Political and Social Inquiry at Monash University, where she teaches Southeast Asian Politics. In recent years, her research has focused on women in politics and development. She is the author of Women and the State in Modern Indonesia (Cambridge University Press 2004).
Alessandra Chiricosta is a Philosopher and Historian of Religions and specializes in Southeast and East Asian Cultures. She focuses on intercultural philosophy, religious and cultural dialogue, Gender Studies and Anthropology and has worked as a consultant for international NGOs and for the Italian Embassy in Vietnam. She has taught at three universities in ItalyLa Sapienza, Urbaniana and Roma Tre (where she obtained her European PhD)as well as the School of Oriental and African Studies and the University of Ha Noi. Her publications include