Feminist Futures and the Possibilities of ‘We’?

“To those who choose to follow in our footsteps”: making women/LGBT+ soldiers (in)visible through feminist “her-story” theater

“…Visibility is a central focus for feminist and queer theorists, starting from the conception that to be publicly visible is a step toward remedying social injustices and discrimination (Aston and Harris 2006;Elshtain 1987;Enloe 2000;Goldstein 2001;Lind 2014;Richter-Montpetit 2018;and many others). Within this large body of literature, we find Butler's (2015, 41) notion that the "field of appearance" is highly ambivalently regulated and "establishes who can be seen, heard, and recognized" as the most productive overarching framework in which to interrogate subversive forms of visibilizing women/ LGBT+ soldiers through feminist "her-story" theater.…”

“…This triple marginalization has led to the invisibility of women/LGBT+ soldiers' experiences on stage. Third, feminist theater studies can be instrumental in advancing discussions of gender-equal soldiering because of its commitment to imagining possible "feminist futures" that must visibilize intersectional experiences of diverse gendered/sexualized/racialized subjects (Aston and Harris 2006;Dolan 2001;Hill and Paris 2006).…”

“…We draw on auto-ethnographies of the productions, semi-structured interviews with artists and military hosts, Twitter/Facebook feeds, and Live Equal, a photo portrait exhibition that ran alongside Dead Equal. In conducting observations and interviews, we adopted the positionality of "feminist spectators as critics" (Dolan 2012), which is key to conducting feminist research in international relations (IR) (see for example Ackerly and True 2006) as well as feminist theater studies (see for example Aston and Harris 2006). This involves paying attention to how the subjectivities of women/LGBT+ soldiers are embodied and dressed/cross-dressed on stage, the kinds of affective energies generated by the performances, and how these embodied, affective, and temporal positionalities resonate with cultural visions of gender-/sexualityinclusive soldiering and wider "feminist dynamics and struggles" (Aston 2020, 13).…”

Mother, daughter, sister, wife? interogating construction of South African Indian women's Identity – a study of South African Indian women playwrights and our plays.

“…There is also a long-held and arguably justifiable point that (Western) (Liberal) feminism 49 does not serve all women, especially those who are further marginalised by their race, class and sexuality. Therefore, any unity between women without addressing these imbalances and power relations is superficial and harmful (Aston & Harris, 2006;Davis, 2011;Reinelt, 2006).…”

“…While I purposely set out to make a feminist play when writing and directing Devi (2019), this is not necessarily the case for all women playwrights (Aston & Harris, 2006;Reinelt, 2006;Solga, 2016). Nevertheless, Reinelt argues that although playwrights may not self-identify as feminists, their work can still be interpreted through a feminist lens (2006).…”