Description:
The acceleration of economic globalization and the rapid
global flows of people, culture, and information have intensified the
importance of developing transnational understandings of contemporary issues.
Transnational feminist perspectives have provided a unique outlook on women's
lives and have deepened our understanding of the gendered nature of global
processes. Transnational Feminism in the
United States examines how transnational perspectives shape the ways in
which we create and disseminate knowledge about the world within the United
States, and how the paradigm of transnational feminism is affected by national
narratives and public discourses within the country itself.
project that is both deconstructive and constructive, this bookinterrogates the limits of feminist
thought, primarily through case
studies that illustrate its power to create new fields of research out of
traditionally interdisciplinary lines of inquiry. Leela Fernandes discusses
ways to approach, analyze, and capture processes that exceed and unsettle the
nation-state within the transnational feminist paradigm. Examining the links
between power and knowledge that bind interdisciplinary theory and research, she shines new light on issues such
as human rights as well as academic debates about transnational feminist
perspectives on global issues. A thought-provoking analysis, Transnational Feminism in the United States powerfully
contributes to the field of Women's
Studies and related cross-disciplinary scholarship on feminist theory and
gender from a global perspective.
Brief description: Leela Fernandes is the Glenda Dickerson Collegiate Professor of Women's Studies and Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan, and author of India's New Middle Class: Democratic Politics in an Era of Economic Reform; Producing Workers: The Politics of Gender, Class and Culture in the Calcutta Jute Mills; and Transforming Feminist Practice.
Review Quotes: "With a clear introduction that offers each chapters argument, this text is simultaneously challenging and approachable. It is accessible for specific purposes, as each essay can stand alone. The arguments are clearly and systematically laid out in this thoroughly research and articulate text."-- "Journal of American Culture"