Feminism/ Postmodernism/ Development (Routledge International Studies of Women and Place)

About this book

Feminism/Postmodernism/Development takes current postmodernist critiques of modernity, postmodern feminist concerns with representation of Third World women and the possibilities for postmodern feminist political action one step further by emphasizing their intersections and exploring new directions and themes. Drawing on the experiences of "Third World" women and "women of color," this collection challenges the ongoing reliance on dualities and explores the new issues, "voices," and dilemmas in development theory and practice. The book identifies various parallel processes affecting minority and Third World women, resulting in negative representations and silencing of their development expertise in favor of the supposed "expert" knowledge of Western development specialists. Using case studies of women in Africa, Latin America and Asia, as well as women of "color," the collection suggests the gap between local development knowledge and Western development expertise can be (and is sometimes) bridged in practice. The concern is to challenge the "Orientalist" representations of Third World and minority women as well as the silencing of their development expertise, by exploring how development theory and practice can be transformed to reflect their experiences, knowledges and political mobilizations. Feminism/Postmodernism/Development brings postmodern questions to the field of gender and development, and not only acknowledges the importance of Third World and minority women's experiences in development issues, but also attempts to identify conditions for a more open and inclusive approach to gender and development.