Subaltern Feminisms

Abstract

Especially from the 1980s, the encounter between postcolonialism and feminism brought important theoretical and practical implications for understanding the lives of women under the impact - past or present - of colonialism. One of the most obvious was the geopolitization of the feminist debate, inaugurated by the idea of a Third World feminism and post-colonial, and currently, can be seen in the attempt to project a feminism Southern and decolonial. This paper has two main theoretical objectives: (a) To demonstrate the antagonism built since the 1980s between non-Western and Western feminisms and (b) To develop a critical dialogue with contemporary version of decolonial Latin American feminism in relation to the notion of gender coloniality. I propose the term “subaltern feminisms” to the understanding of a paradoxical movement: the construction of others feminisms is only possible when they subalternalize in relation to the modern feminism. As a result, highlights the tension between fragmentation limit of irreconcilable differences and the necessary cosmopolitization of the feminist agenda.