Women’s Activism and "Second Wave" Feminism : Transnational Histories

Abstract

Women’s Activism and "Second Wave" Feminism situates late 20th century feminisms within a global framework of women’s activism. Its chapters, written by leading international scholars, demonstrate how issues of heterogeneity, transnationalism, and intersectionality have transformed understandings of historical feminism.

It is no longer possible to imagine that feminism has ever fostered an unproblematic sisterhood among women blind to race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, nationality and citizenship status. The chapters in this collection modify the "wave" metaphor in some cases and in others re-periodize it. By studying individual movements, they collectively address several themes that advance our understandings of the history of feminism, such as the rejection of "hegemonic" feminism by marginalized feminist groups, transnational linkages among women’s organizations, transnational flows of ideas and transnational migration.