Challenging Eurocentrism: Synergies, Disjuncture and Solidarities in South Asian Feminisms


Urvashi Soni-Sinha, University of Windsor

The paper engages with the meanings, solidarities, and disjuncture of South Asian feminist diasporic identities in a globalized world. While recognizing the complexities of South Asian identities and the many feminisms it entails, I explore the potential for coalition building across the diaspora of South Asian feminism, through receptive dialogic approaches. As Spivak reminds us of strategic use of essentialism that is different from universalism in her interview with Grosz (1990), I engage with the idea of "South Asian feminist diasporic identity" as a strategy to deconstruct the spaces of Western feminism we inhabit. I explore the possibilities of building decolonial synergies while recognizing the disjuncture in our histories, politics and the unique intersectionalities and positionalities. What do these synergies look like and how do we engage in critiquing the Eurocentric feminist scholarship within a framework of solidarity and shared values? How will the synergies and coalitions across diasporic South Asian feminisms help "to begin the process of re-membering and of spinning new, gynocentric and biophilic realities" (Daly, 1990)? The South Asian Feminisms: The Road Travelled and the Road Ahead This paper explores the ideas of South Asian feminist diasporic identity and synergies to disrupt the centrality of Western feminist institutional discourses and the spaces of Western feminism we inhabit. Mohanty (2003) uses a decolonial framework to critique the Western feminist scholarship within a framework of solidarity and shared values and has called for a "shared frame of difference" that is "based on a vision of equality" (502). Yuval-Davis (2015, 98) calls for "transversal epistemology" rooted on self reflexivity while "understanding the situated gazes" as a basis of political solidarity. How does the emergence of a South Asian feminist diasporic identity help in fostering a vision of equality with Western feminism? What are the disjuncture and complexities of South Asian feminist diasporic identities in a globalized world? Gupta (2006, 10) in her detailed analysis of seven South Asian organizations in the US comments on the ways in which these organizations "negotiate the coming together of immigrants who are defined as originating from a geographic region and sharing a common culture". She writes "The process of identity formation requires straddling wars, religious dis-harmony, and national and regional antagonisms rooted in a history of colonization, partition, and independence struggles". The question of common decolonial identity of South Asian culture as a bond to foster coalition across South Asian diaspora raises questions around authenticity of culture as we recognize culture as a social construct, and its changing dynamic nature. Given the wide variations across regions within South Asia, and within different countries, as well as the variation in individual positionalities and differences in language, religions, class, and caste would mean heterogenous experience of culture for different people. Moreover, women of colour being seen as representative of their "culture" has gendered connotations. Lee (2011, 259) when recognizing the social construction of cultures by the colonizers and colonized applauds the "perceived epistemic incongruity" and the lack of correspondence between the image and the embodiment of women of colour as a challenge to colonialism. South Asian feminist coalition built around common cultural identities thus raises several questions around heterogenous, dynamic cultures and the problematic claims around gendered cultural identities. Rather a decolonial South Asian feminist coalition imaginary disrupts the very claim to a common gendered cultural identity for not only are cultures diverse, dynamic, and heterogenous, but the link of women to culture and building of feminist coalition around culture needs unpacking. The paper will explore the following questions: What are the diverse and common intersectional positionalities of South Asian women in Canada? What are the common grounds for decolonial coalition for South Asian feminism? What are the issues with using culture as ground for coalition building? What would be some concrete steps to strengthening a decolonial South Asian feminist coalition in Canada?

This paper will be presented at the following session: