Introduction: Gender in the Global South: A Complex and Contradictory Agenda

Abstract

The publication of the last of three parts of Contexto Internacional's special issue 'Gender in the Global South' is the opportunity to both celebrate and lament the accomplishments of feminist scholarship in the so-called global South. Reflecting from the Brazilian experience and scenario, it is remarkable how much the women, gender and sexuality agenda has grown in the field of international relations: from a marginal perspective at the turn of the century (Nogueira and Messari 2005), it has now become a major locus of resistance and contestation, which can be attested to by looking at the power plays at the Brazilian international relations association's annual meetings, the multiplication of feminist collectives inside public and private universities, not to mention the growing number of gender-sensitive research articles published by the main national journals -including this triple special issue. From where I look, there is no doubt that feminism has come to shake the conventions of the area and produce a much more plural and interesting picture of international relations -one which encompasses more voices, stories, subjectivities and narratives. From this standpoint, there is much to celebrate and hope for.On the other hand, the pieces collected throughout this year-long journey of editing this special issue also paint a very grim and pessimistic picture for those who would expect to participate in a more just, equal -or simply more plural -international order. Together, these articles reconstruct a very difficult scenario for those who (continue to) inhabit a 'zone of nonbeing' (Fanon 2008) and who, therefore, continue to be more objects than subjects of this political and epistemological order. Looking at the world through gender-sensitive lenses does not immediately make it better; it in fact sharpens our awareness of the depth and pervasiveness of the hierarchies of power, and how they work to multiply and disguise the necropolitical (Mbembe 2003) underpinnings of our modern international. In this sense, these perspectives can even reinforce our sense of powerlessness.There is no easy way around this complexity: we must stay firm in our resolve to expand the feminist agenda from the margins, to rupture the traditional and even criti-