Beyond Sovereignty and Particularism: for a Truly Universalist Feminism

Intersectional understandings of identities as traversed by diverse forms of oppression have brought to light also the ways commitments to contesting these forms of oppression might come into conflict. A salient form of conflicting intersectionality is the apparent conflict between feminist and anti...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Katja Čičigoj
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Singidunum University. Faculty of Media and Communications 2017-10-01
Series:AM: Art + Media
Subjects:
Online Access:http://fmkjournals.fmk.edu.rs/index.php/AM/article/view/216
Description
Summary:Intersectional understandings of identities as traversed by diverse forms of oppression have brought to light also the ways commitments to contesting these forms of oppression might come into conflict. A salient form of conflicting intersectionality is the apparent conflict between feminist and anti-racist or anti-colonial commitments today. By offering a materialist rereading of Simone de Beauvoir’s understanding of oppression and emancipation against her postcolonial critics, I argue that instead of a particularistic one, a universalist and egalitarian account of conflicting intersectionality is required today – an account which is however fully aware of the historical nature of the universal itself. Such an account may allow us to keep condemning all forms of oppression, with Beauvoir’s words, as an “absolute evil”.   Article received: June 5, 2017; Article accepted: June 12, 2017; Published online: October 15, 2017; Original scholarly paper How to cite this article: Čičigoj, Katja. "Beyond Sovereignty and Particularism: for a Truly Universalist Feminism." AM Journal of Art and Media Studies 14 (2017): 91-104. doi: 10.25038/am.v0i14.216
ISSN:2217-9666
2406-1654