As Tamar Mayer has observed, nationalism is an exercise in internal hegemony that aims at dissolution of ethnic, religious and sexual differences, in which “the empowerment of one gender or one nation or one sexuality virtually always comes at the expense and disempowerment of another’’ (Mayer 1). Women represent a notable point of similarity and difference vis-a-vis ethnic, religious or sexual others. Like minorities, women are often marginalised in the public sphere; unlike them, due to their sheer numbers, women can have a considerable political leverage. Often glorified for their roles of biological reproducers of a nation and signifiers of national/ethnic/religious singularity, women, more often than not, constitute a “silent majority,” to misquote Richard Nixon. Occasionally, however, women stand up en mass not only to attempts to limit their agency but also to nationalist excesses. Ukrainian Femen, the Black Lives Matter movement spearheaded by black women, Argentinian 2016 #NiUnaMenos protest against femicides, the Women’s March on Washington against Trump’s populism, and Polish feminist “black” marches against patriarchal and Catholic conservatism, are just a few examples of women showing tremendous courage and determination in defending “the culture of Human Rights” (Pramod Nayar) and “conviviality” (Paul Gilroy). With these movements, women have aroused hope of creating what Nancy Fraser called multiple “subaltern counterpublics” – that is discursive arenas which develop in opposition to the official (un?)public sphere. These arenas are bases for revolutionary politics that defies the exclusions of the national body politic and promotes the ideal of equal civic participation. Roger Sue called these alternative feminist social hubs “a counter society” (La Contresociété 2016). Alain Tourain saw in their emergence a transformative political force with far-reaching consequences for the neo-liberal world (Le monde des femmes 2006).
CfP: Women’s Spring: Feminism, Nationalism and Civil Disobedience
