South Asian Feminisms

During the past forty years, South Asia has been the location and the focus of dynamic, important feminist scholarship and activism. In this collection of essays, prominent feminist scholars and activists build on that work to confront pressing new challenges for feminist theorizing and practice. Examining recent feminist interventions in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, they address feminist responses to religious fundamentalism and secularism; globalization, labor, and migration; militarization and state repression; public representations of sexuality; and the politics of sex work. Their essays attest to the diversity and specificity of South Asian locations and feminist concerns, while also demonstrating how feminist engagements in the region can enrich and advance feminist theorizing globally. Contributors. Flavia Agnes, Anjali Arondekar, Firdous Azim, Anannya Bhattacharjee, Laura Brueck, Angana P. Chatterji, Malathi de Alwis, Toorjo Ghose, Amina Jamal, Ratna Kapur, Lamia Karim, Ania Loomba, Ritty A. Lukose, Vasuki Nesiah, Sonali Perera, Atreyee Sen, Mrinalini Sinha, Ashwini Sukthankar

“While most books about feminism in South Asia are country-specific, this collection has a genuinely regional focus. Essays explicitly address feminist activism and concerns in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Given the pioneering nature of South Asian feminist politics and scholarship, there is considerable interest in new work that spans the region. South Asian Feminisms takes on contemporary themes—such as labor, sexuality, and religion and secularism—that resonate across the region and beyond.”—Mary John, author of Discrepant Dislocations: Feminism, Theory, and Postcolonial Histories, "South Asian Feminisms grapples fearlessly with the most challenging questions of our time. What is the work of feminism in an age of accelerating state-sponsored violence? How do women resist the depredations of national and global security regimes? How has the combination of rights claims and international development machinery compromised feminist practice? When, where, and under what conditions has the rule of law failed women and consolidated new forms of gendered injustice? What, indeed, is the geopolitical remit of 'South Asian feminisms,' whether theoretical or practical? Ania Loomba and Ritty A. Lukose have assembled a formidable set of interlocutors whose interdisciplinary breadth is matched by their keen analyses, their graphic examples, and their categorical refusal of easy diagnoses. Put down your books and get up from your desks: This is a call to action—in the world, now, today."—Antoinette Burton, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, "A rich collection of essays from scholars based in and outside of South Asia. These incisive essays testify to the vitality of South Asian feminist politics and the ability of feminist researchers and activists to analyze and engage with national, regional, and global pasts and futures. This is a project of solidarity as well as scholarship."—Inderpal Grewal, author of Transnational America: Feminisms, Diasporas, Neoliberalisms, “[A] good, readable, and ethnographically rich resource for anyone who wants to know more about feminist theory and activism in South Asia.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.”, “This book offers a healthy balance of theory and practice in feminist thought... [and] attempts to contextualize feminism and give South Asian feminism a unique brand which is valuable for both feminist scholarship and students. South Asian Feminisms offers pertinent directions for a feminist future in South Asia.”

Ania Loomba is the Catherine Bryson Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is affiliated with the departments of Comparative Literature, South Asian Studies, Women’s Studies, and Asian-American Studies.Ritty A. Lukose is Associate Professor at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University.