The Challenge Of Local Feminisms: Women's Movements In Global Perspective (Social Change in Global Perspective) [Paperback]

Amrita Basu (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0813326281 | ISBN-13: 978-0813326283 | Publication Date: July 19, 1995 | Edition: First Edition

This pathbreaking book provides for the first time an overview of the genesis, growth, gains, and dilemmas of women’s movements worldwide. Unlike most of the literature, which focuses on the industrialized Western world, this volume devotes greater attention to the postcolonial states of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The book challenges the assumptions that feminism can transcend national differences and, conversely, that women’s movements are shaped and circumscribed by national levels of development. All the authors reject the notion, proposed by its detractors and champions alike, that feminism is of middle-class origins and Western inspiration. Instead they seek to locate women’s movements within the terrain from which they emerge.Virtually all the authors are from the countries or communities about which they write; the few exceptions are women who have spent lengthy periods studying and living in the region. Most are scholars, often in women’s studies, and many are closely associated with the movements they describe. Thus, these writers share a commitment to the substantive concerns as well as the collective processes of women’s movements. As a key book for the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, this volume will be essential reading for anyone interested in the global scope and implications of feminism.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Amrita Basu is professor of political science and women’s and gender studies at Amherst College. C. Elizabeth McGrory works as a consultant on reproductive health and women’s rights.

Product Details

• Paperback: 510 pages
• Publisher: Westview Press; First Edition edition (July 19, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813326281
• ISBN-13: 978-0813326283
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #78,059 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Responding to Women's Issues Around the World, April 11, 2001

By 

Janet M. Powers (Gettysburg College Gettysburg, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Challenge Of Local Feminisms: Women's Movements In Global Perspective (Social Change in Global Perspective) (Paperback)

I have taught this book once in a course entitled Global Feminism and will be teaching it again in the fall of 2001. Basu's work is well organized, with each chapter on a specific country headed by a box containing important statistics. However, this work is not theoretical, but rather offers a compendium of information (history, political overview, issues, women's organizations addressing those issues and their history)about many individual countries. Thus, it can be used in conjunction with a more theoretical work to gain a good sense of issues in particular cultures. It is also quite useful in gaining an overview of women's issues and movements around the world. Unlike some of the more theoretical works on transnational feminism, Basu's style is quite easy to read and make sense of. Students did not find it particularly absorbing but found it very helpful in completing team projects on feminist issues. The Challenge of Local Feminisms is a handbook rather than something to sink your teeth into intellectually, but it's clearly a very useful book to have on one's shelf.