Transnational America , livre ebook
294
pages
English
Ebooks
2005
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294
pages
English
Ebooks
2005
Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus
Publié par
Date de parution
28 juin 2005
EAN13
9780822386544
Langue
English
Poids de l'ouvrage
1 Mo
In Transnational America, Inderpal Grewal examines how the circulation of people, goods, social movements, and rights discourses during the 1990s created transnational subjects shaped by a global American culture. Rather than simply frame the United States as an imperialist nation-state that imposes unilateral political power in the world, Grewal analyzes how the concept of "America" functions as a nationalist discourse beyond the boundaries of the United States by disseminating an ideal of democratic citizenship through consumer practices. She develops her argument by focusing on South Asians in India and the United States.Grewal combines a postcolonial perspective with social and cultural theory to argue that contemporary notions of gender, race, class, and nationality are linked to earlier histories of colonization. Through an analysis of Mattel's sales of Barbie dolls in India, she discusses the consumption of American products by middle-class Indian women newly empowered with financial means created by India's market liberalization. Considering the fate of asylum-seekers, Grewal looks at how a global feminism in which female refugees are figured as human rights victims emerged from a distinctly Western perspective. She reveals in the work of three novelists who emigrated from India to the United States-Bharati Mukherjee, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, and Amitav Ghosh-a concept of Americanness linked to cosmopolitanism. In Transnational America Grewal makes a powerful, nuanced case that the United States must be understood-and studied-as a dynamic entity produced and transformed both within and far beyond its territorial boundaries.
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Publié par
Date de parution
28 juin 2005
EAN13
9780822386544
Langue
English
Poids de l'ouvrage
1 Mo
transnationalamerica
Next Wave: New Directions in Women’s Studies
a series edited by inderpal grewal, caren kaplan,
and robyn wiegman
transnational america
Feminisms, Diasporas, NeoliberalismsVInderpal Grewal
duke university press durham & london 2005 V V
∫2005 Duke University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper$
Designed by Rebecca Giménez
Typeset in Scala by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
and republication acknowledgments appear on
the last printed page of this book.
contents
V
acknowledgments vii
introductionNeoliberal Citizenship: The Governmentality of Rights and Consumer Culture 1 oneBecoming American: The Novel and the Diaspora 35 twoTraveling Barbie: Indian Transnationalities and the Global Consumer 80
three‘‘Women’s Rights as Human Rights’’: The Transnational Production of Global Feminist Subjects 121 fourGendering Refugees: New National/Transnational Subjects 158 fiveTransnational America: Race and Gender after 9/11 196
notes221 bibliography241 index267
acknowledgments
V
Books are never written alone. No lonely author scribbling away undis-turbed. No room of one’s own but then, that room would make intellectual work very lonely, and not very interesting. Also there would be little at stake in such an endeavor. It is because I have been so fortunate to have many insightful people to talk and think with that I can write. And because there are communities to care about, there is something I care to write about. The hours of writing were all the more precious because they were often di≈-cult to come by and there was so much to write about. My thanks to all those whose inspiring work I heard, read, saw, and listened to all through the years. Some of those I have lost touch with or see only occasionally and some I talk to every day. But they are all remembered and valued. First of all my thanks to my dear friend and co-author, Caren Kaplan. So much talking, thinking, debating went on all of these years since our first jobs in D.C. This book could not have been written without the discussion and writing and work that went into our writings together and without the important theoretical work on mobility and travel and feminism that she continues to produce. Thanks to Caren also for reading so many versions of this book and for helping to nurture it over the years. My thanks also to Eric Smoodin for reading versions of this book, as well as for friendship and humor that enlivened many a discussion. His work in American history was invaluable to this book, and no one can surpass that fine ability to make chai. I am similarly indebted to Minoo Moallem for so much a√ection, collegiality, insights, discussion, and all the enjoyable times spent in her
viii Acknowledg-ments
company—Minoo’s work on gender and Islam and on migration helped me to think through a constellation of ideas about feminism and geopolitics. And Shaheen Bayat’s presence made these events memorable: politics in Iran was an inexhaustable topic that never failed to excite us all. Parama Roy’s friendship has been an important one—her sharp mind and humor, her careful analyses and readings, her passion for Hindi movies and music, and her dislike of Shahrukh’s acting abilities never failed to add zest and enjoyment to our every meeting and conversation. Bharat Trehan’s hospi-tality and humor added to the pleasure of each visit. Robyn Wiegman’s passion about feminism and theory and her friendship and support were important, as were Tani Barlow’s discussions about the future of women’s studies, feminism, and internationalism. Cathy Davidson’s friendship, sup-port, and encouragement and her mentorship and her ideas have kept that important interdisciplinary flame alive. Leti Volpp has been a wonderful presence, as have her essays and talks and discussions; theawscommunity has been so supportive and taught me much about race and gender. The group writing against the war in Berkeley—Jenny Terry, Tina Campt, Paola Bacchetta, Caren, Minoo—all helped to sharpen my thoughts about Amer-ica and the war. And that widespread feminist, women’s studies, and social and cultural theory community would not be complete without Amrita Basu, Avtar Brah, Kum Kum Bhavnani, Lisa Bloom, Carolyn Dinshaw, Carla Freeman, Denise Gokturk, Sandra Gunning, Akhil Gupta, Miranda Joseph, Suad Joseph, Surina Khan, Donald Lowe, Purnima Mankekar, Don-ald Moore, Mimi Nguyen, Steve Poulos, Jasbir Puar, Erica Rand, Arvind Ra-jagopal, Priti Ramamurthi, Anupama Rao, Sherene Razack, Lesley Sharp, Ella Shohat, Harleen Singh, Alissa Trotz, Ginette Verstraete. Audiences and enthusiastic colleagues in so many places gave me venues in which to speak and their feedback and responses improved the work: thanks to some super audiences and interlocutors atuwMadison, Wesleyan, Rice, U Ari-zona, Emory, Duke,nyu, Stanford,uc Berkeley,uc Santa Barbara,uc Davis,ucRiverside,ucSan Diego,ucSanta Cruz, Amsterdam, Josai Uni-versity, U Toronto,ucla, Kyoto Seika University, the University of Wash-ington, Seattle, Smith College, and theuchriresearch group. AtucIrvine, some terrific colleagues have taught me a great deal in the time I have been here. My thanks go to Laura Kang, Kavita Philip, Victoria Bernal, Joanna Gislason, David Goldberg, Joan Ariel, John Rowe, Jane New-
man, Susan Coutin, Bill Maurer, Tom Boellstor√, Teresa Caldeira, Mei Zhan, Jim Ferguson, Liisa Malkki, Karen Leonard, Dina Al-Kassim, Susan Klein, Joe McKenna, Annette Schlichter, Mark Poster, Susan Jarrett, Jill Robbins, Arturo Arias, Connie Samaras, Yong Soon Kim, Ketu Katrak, Glen Mimura, Philomena Essed, and Linda Vo. Thanks to Dean Karen Lawrence for the time and course releases to finish this manuscript. Thanks toctiand its members—I learn from them all the time. A very extra and special thanks to Dani McClellan—she was incredible in her editorial help, and her friend-ship and support. Laura Stiel, who has turned things around in the short time she has been in women’s studies, made it possible for me to spend time finishing the work on the manuscript. In the Bay Area and at San Francisco State, where the bulk of this book took shape, I must thank my Narika friends—we have all gone through so much and done so much since we first met that it’s hard to believe I don’t live near them all anymore. So thanks to Manuela Albuquerque, Shobha Menon Hiatt, Nina Kabir, Huma Dar, Lalita Subas, Viji Sundaram, Naheed Sheikh, Chic Dabby, and Merula Furtado. Narika was also where I learned so much that went into this book and where I learned that failure was instructive; my experiences there taught me lessons about questions of agency and power that have certainly emerged in this book. I must also thank the energetic and enthusiastic group of women who were amazing as undergraduates and brought out the anthologyOur Feet Walk the Sky, which had a very early version of one of the book chapters. My thanks to my colleagues at SF State: Minoo Moallem, Deb Cohler, Loretta Stec, Julyana Peard, Jim Quesada, Susan Sung, Myung Mi Kim, Roberto Rivera, as well as so many others. And to my students in the M.A. program who were early listeners and supporters of this project: many became so much more than students and so much a part of my life, in particular Sima Shakhsari, Neha Vora, Jenna Gretsch, Ambra Pirri, Kris Peterson—I have learned so much from them. In India, Bharat Ponga, Neeta Baxi, Maninder and Minty Grewal, Narin-der and Savita Goel, KumKum Sangari, Uma Chakravarty—your hospitality, discussions, and knowledge all were enlightening and made my research possible as I did my usual flying trips to India. The librarians atpauExten-sion library in Ludhiana were so helpful. Thanks also to so many aunts and uncles and cousins and their families whose conversations, dinners, and
ix Acknowledg-ments
