XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)

581

Rethinking Feminist Knowledge: Voices from the Global South

RC32 Women in Society (host committee)

Language: English

Scholarship on feminist theory and praxis has grown exponentially over the past two decades as the complex and interlocking conditions that produce oppression, opportunity and privilege generate new questions, issues and interpretations of women’s lives. It is now understood that feminist theorizing grounded in contextual, historical, geo-economic, political, and cultural forces shaping women’s differentiated lives is necessary to advance interdisciplinary feminist knowledge and praxis. One of the areas that must be further explored in this dialogue is the interplay between theory, praxis, and research practice from the perspectives of feminist scholars in the global South. Working from different cultural, political, and economic contexts and recognizing the many cultures, multiple, and complex identities within these regions, panelists from South Asia, Africa, Latin America, Caribbean, and Middle East, will explore ongoing and new feminist dialogues. Invited panelists will explore new theoretical and empirical discourses among feminist scholars and activists in the global South working within and from their own paradigms of feminism, intersectionality, and transnationalism. Pertinent questions will include:

-          How do feminist scholars and activists in the global South conceptualize and interpret women’s experiences in their societies?

-          What factors shape their positionality and identity as feminist scholar/activists?

-          How do they break with dominant epistemologies to frame their own sites of knowledge production and feminist identity?

-          How do feminist discourses in the global South offer the possibilities of new insights that reflect the multiple and shifting conditions in their societies and how do their perspectives impact global feminist agendas?