Race, class, and agency: A return to Marxist feminism

Abstract

This article argues that the starting point for Marxist feminist praxis is not rooted in questions of identity, agency, authenticity, space, or body but in the oppression and the exploitation of women and men of the working class, peasants, urban poor, and national minorities. The analysis herein departs from the postmodernist study of language, representation, or culture and reaffirms how capitalization and modernization have bolstered traditional patriarchal gender relations. Tracing the limits of postmodernist, postcolonial, and transnational feminist theories, the authors scrutinize the renewed academic interest and treatment of Muslim women's "agency" after the events of September 2001.Using the case of the Lady Health Workers of Pakistan and retracing the collusive role of imperialism and Islamic politics in the Middle East, the authors argue for the need to return to a Marxist feminist analysis that is based on social materiality rather than on a trade between class and gender.

An open invitation to productive conversations about feminism and the spectrum of eating disorders (part 1): basic principles of feminist approaches

“…Moreover, within those “waves” there have been those who specifically endorse liberal (choice-based) feminism (e.g., [ 13 ]), relational cultural feminism (e.g., [ 14 ]), radical feminism (e.g., [ 15 ]), Marxist feminism (e.g., [ 16 ]), eco feminism (e.g., [ 17 ]) and more. These nuances matter when it comes to considering debates around the place of feminism in eating disorders work: rather than simply saying feminism does or does not “apply” as a framework, we ask: which feminisms, and to what end?…”

The Spatial Politics of Infrastructure‐Led Development: Notes from an Asian Postcolony

“…Indeed, recent scholarship of informal settlements in Karachi's peripheries highlights how "gendered insecurities of urban water infrastructures ... are conditioned by securitisation logics", especially in terms of uneven mobility and exposure to violence across genders (Anwar et al 2020(Anwar et al :1322; see also Mustafa et al 2019;Sawas et al 2020). The labour of Karachi's public health infrastructure is also explicitly gendered-most notably in the form of the Lady Health Worker Program that constitutes the frontline of polio eradication efforts (Mojab and Zia 2019;Suhail 2020). These dynamics are not addressed directly enough in this Symposium, even though they are significant in all cases.…”

“…2020). The labour of Karachi’s public health infrastructure is also explicitly gendered—most notably in the form of the Lady Health Worker Program that constitutes the frontline of polio eradication efforts (Mojab and Zia 2019; Suhail 2020). These dynamics are not addressed directly enough in this Symposium, even though they are significant in all cases.…”