Critical Transnational Feminist Praxis , livre ebook

SUNY Series, Praxis: Theory in Action
Nancy A. Naples, editor

Critical Transnational Feminist Praxis
EDITED BY
AMANDA LOCK SWARR
AND
RICHA NAGAR

Cover image of Ananya Dance Theatre's performance provided by Ananya Dance Theatre.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2010 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
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Production by Ryan Morris
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Critical transnational feminist praxis / edited by Richa Nagar and Amanda Lock Swarr.
          p.    cm. — (praxis: theory in action)
  Includes bibliographical references and index.
  ISBN 978-1-4384-2937-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4384-2938-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Feminism—Cross-cultural studies. I. Nagar, Richa. II. Swarr, Amanda Lock.
  HQ1121.C69 2009
  305.4201—dc22
                                                                                                                     2009008531
                                                                  10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1

Illustrations 7.1   Act III from Duurbaar , when, after burning thirst, water finally enters and fills the space   149 7.2   Act II from Duurbaar , the womb section, where the women rebirth themselves   153 7.3   Act II from Duurbaar , desire and connection   157 7.4   Act II from Duurbaar , memory/flow, where the serpentine walk of one group of women with empty water pots intersected with a trio dancing to breathe in flow of memories and a soloist working through historical memory   161 8.1   VIVA! partner organizations and community arts projects   167 8.2   Statue of Christopher Columbus and Indigenous woman in Lima, Peru   170 8.3   Spiral model of VIVA! project's substantive focus and methodology   186 8.4   Spiral of key methodological components of the VIVA! project   186

Acknowledgments
When a work is a product of more than a decade of journeying together, it is very difficult to name and thank every single individual or institution that has shaped our ideas and efforts. While it is not possible to name everyone who has directly or indirectly molded our vision and work, we would like to acknowledge with deepest gratitude those who have been most critical in sowing the seeds of this volume, nourishing it, and bringing it to fruition.
It was a Graduate Research Partnership Program grant from the University of Minnesota in 2001–2002 that first allowed us to extend our intellectual partnership beyond an advisor-advisee relationship and begin an exciting research partnership. A Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Humanities and support from the Department of Women's Studies at Barnard College of Columbia University (2003–2005) and from the Department of Women Studies at the University of Washington (since 2005) have allowed Amanda Swarr to continue her collaboration with Richa Nagar. A residential fellowship for Richa from the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford along with a grant from the College of Liberal Arts at Minnesota in 2005–2006 allowed us the space and time to plan the workshop Towards a Transnational Feminist Praxis and to enjoy the beautiful environs on the hill as we completed the initial draft of the paper that evolved into the introduction to this volume.
The workshop Towards a Transnational Feminist Praxis, where the idea for this book finally crystallized, was hosted at the University of Minnesota on September 15–16, 2006 by the Institute for Global Studies (IGS) with generous support from the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change (ICGC) and a cosponsorship from the Department of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies. This workshop provided the platform to begin the dialogues that now find expression in Critical Transnational Feminist Praxis . The idea for the workshop first emerged in spring 2005 in a series of conversations with Laura Sayles (IGS) and Karen Brown (ICGC). We could not have undertaken this workshop without Laura Sayles's intellectual engagement and meticulous planning; Klaas van der Sanden's creative, careful, and experienced organizing; and Allison Lindberg's dedicated attention to detail. The photo exhibit organized by Alondra Espejel and her colleagues at the Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network, and the jointly organized events and activities with the Ananya Dance Theatre and the Resource Center of the Americas, profoundly enriched the workshop. Last, but not least, we are grateful that a workshop organized by the South Asia Center, the Simpson Center for the Humanities, the Departments of Women Studies and Geography at the University of Washington, Seattle, and the Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington, Bothell gave the two of us the opportunity to merge the comments of the contributors into the last chapter of this volume.
We would like to thank all those who participated in the workshop as authors, presenters, and dancers: M. Jacqui Alexander, Deborah Barndt, Karen de Souza, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Obioma Nnaemeka, Linda Peake, Geraldine Pratt, Rachel Silvey, Reena, Richa Singh, Surbala, and the members of Ananya Dance Theatre, including Ananya Chatterjea, Shannon Gibney, Omise'eke Natasha Tinsley, and Hui Niu Wilcox. Eight feminist scholars from the University of Minnesota served as discussants for these papers and provided invaluable feedback: Rose Brewer, Karen Brown, Susan Craddock, Jigna Desai, Kale Fajardo, Karen Ho, Amy Kaminsky, and Naomi Scheman. We would also like to thank those who could not participate as authors or discussants during the workshop but joined us as contributors later on: Danielle Bouchard, Sam Bullington, Piya Chatterjee, and Diane Detournay. The lively engagement and challenging questions from the students, community workers, and other members of the audience have continued to give momentum to many of our ideas long after the conclusion of the workshop.
The journey from the 2006 workshop at Minnesota to Critical Transnational Feminist Praxis has been marked by a series of meaningful partnerships. We thank Larin McLaughlin, our editor at SUNY Press, for her enthusiastic engagement and support of this collaboration, and Andrew Kenyon and Ryan Morris for smoothing our path throughout the long process of production. We would also like to thank David Faust, Louise Fortmann, Elaine Haig-Widner, Carol Langdon, Joel Wainwright, David Allen, Judy Howard, Chi-ming Yang, Abdi Samatar, Priti Ramamurthy, Sharad Chari, Karen Falconer Al-Hindi, and Pamela Moss for their intellectual generosity and support at crucial junctures in the making of this book.
And then there are those of you whom we have lived and breathed and argued and learned with in the more intimate and vulnerable spaces of our personal and political lives: Bass John, Conny, Phumla, Midi, Theresa, Dawie, Juan, Tee, Barbara, Jessica, Dan, Frank, Kathleen, Fred, Val, Gabe, Karla, Zach, Maribeth, Declan, Maa (Vibha Nagar), Babuji (Sharad Nagar), Medha, Tarun, Dumdi, Deeksha, “Namarashi,” and sathis of Sangtin. As inadequate as words are, we want to say tahe dil se shukriya to you for embracing us during all those times when rules of academic productivity do not sit so well with the commitments we have made to you. Hamba kahle to those we have lost along the way.
—AMANDA LOCK SWARR AND RICHA NAGAR
Introduction Theorizing Transnational Feminist Praxis
RICHA NAGAR AND AMANDA LOCK SWARR

Arundhati Roy follows in the traditions of Nehru, Gandhi, and many others. She is … using her position as an artist to fight for those who do not have a voice and is prepared to suffer the consequences. … These are qualities worthy of the highest praise.
—Kevin Baker, quoted in The Guardian , Friday, March 8, 2002
The global left media celebrates Arundhati Roy as one of the most influential Third World activists resisting U.S. empire. Such celebration, however, does not mean that Roy's intellectual voice and her political analyses have emerged in isola