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Feminist Political Togetherness View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Helsingin yliopiston digitaalinen arkisto Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies University of Helsinki Helsinki Feminist Political Togetherness Rethinking the Collective Dimension of Feminist Politics Anna Elomäki ACADEMIC DISSERTATION To be presented, with the permission of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Helsinki, for public examination in lecture room XII, University main building, on 1 June 2012, at 12 o’clock. © 2012 Anna Elomäki ISBN 978-952-10-7987-0 (paperback) ISBN 978-952-10-7988-7 (PDF) http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/ Unigrafia Helsinki 2012 Abstract The feminist “we,” which during the first and second waves of feminist political organizing had a natural basis in “women,” became a theoretical and political problem in the late 1970s. In this study, I examine efforts to replace the earlier idea of “women” as the collective subject of feminism with more nuanced vi- sions of the feminist “we.” I refer to these efforts, which continue right down to the present, as the “discussion on feminist political togetherness.” Women of color in the United States initiated this discussion in the late 1970s, when they criticized feminist movements for suppressing differences between women and neglecting intersecting oppressions, and when they conceptualized feminism as a coalition among women from different backgrounds. In the 1990s, this criti- cism began to intermingle with the post-structuralist critique of stable and unitary identities. The novel visions of feminist political commonality have received far less at- tention than the various criticisms of the category “women” as the basis of feminist politics. Through examining alternative conceptualizations of the feminist “we” proposed by, among others, Gloria Alzaldúa, Judith Butler, Adri- ana Cavarero, Jodi Dean, bell hooks, Maria Lugones, Chandra Mohanty, and Linda Zerilli, the present study provides a counterbalance to the representations of the recent history of feminism, which focus on theoretical work on differ- ences, subjectivity, and agency. “Political togetherness” is the key concept in my study. On the one hand, this concept is a heuristic tool that allows us to see similarities among the vi- sions of the feminist “we” proposed in different decades and contexts and based on different vocabularies and theoretical resources. On the other hand, I use the term to illustrate the distinctiveness of the discussion on feminist political to- getherness in comparison to other recent debates about political community in the field of political theorizing. I examine the discussion of feminist political togetherness from three per- spectives. First, I focus on the exact concepts used in the debate. Thus far, femi- nist theorists have not created new concepts for theorizing the feminist “we”; they have given new meanings to terms with an established position in the field of political theorizing. I identify the main vocabularies that feminist theorists have used for this purpose, namely, identity, coalition, and solidarity. Second, I iii turn my attention from vocabularies to the theoretical resources used and ana- lyze visions of collective feminist politics based on the concepts put forth by Hannah Arendt. Since the 1990s Arendt’s thought has been the main theoretical resource in the discussion of feminist political togetherness. Arendtian visions of the feminist “we” form a distinct strand in this debate, owing to their indebt- edness to Arendt’s existential approach to politics. Arendtian feminists have broadened the scope of the discussion with new ideas. However, some of the traces of Arendt’s existential framework in their conceptualization are problem- atic. Finally, I discuss five themes that have persisted in the feminist political togetherness discussion for decades. The persistence of these themes reveals that, even though feminist theorists use different vocabularies and theoretical resources to address the problem of the feminist “we,” the solutions they pro- vide are similar. Most draw attention to sustained, but open political bonds across difference and privilege, bonds that have to be actively created and main- tained and that enable political action in the context of diversity and inequality. My study suggests that the visions of the feminist “we” from the late 1970s down to the present offer an explicitly feminist understanding of political com- monality, which takes into account the diversity of groups, intersecting oppres- sions, fragmentation of individual subjectivity, and differences in power and privilege. This understanding, which I call “feminist political togetherness,” differs from other recent debates about political community in the field of po- litical theorizing, and I suggest it provides new opportunities for discussing the collective dimension of politics in diverse and unequal societies. iv Acknowledgements It is a common belief that writing a doctoral dissertation is a lonely task. Think- ing back over the six years I spent researching, writing and rewriting this book, however, I see that I have collaborated with a large number of people, both within and without academia, who have given me invaluable advice, support and encouragement with my work. First and foremost, my thanks go to my supervisor, Academy Professor Tuija Pulkkinen. She encouraged me to consider doctoral studies back in 2005 and invited me to be a member of the ‘Politics and Philosophy of Gender’ (PPhiG) research team of the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence for Political Thought and Conceptual Change. She has stood with me all the way, although in the process my research interests have shifted. She was right to believe that this thesis would finally see the light of day, but without her experi- ence, encouragement and advice it would not have been completed. I owe a special debt of gratitude to the pre-examiners, Professor Moya Lloyd and Pro- fessor Lisa Disch, whose valuable comments helped me to finalize the manu- script. The PPhiG team provided me with a stimulating research community over its six years of existence. Since the first meeting of the team in summer 2005, the members at various stages of their academic career, including Anu Koivunen, Johanna Oksala, Tuula Juvonen, Antu Sorainen, Laura Werner and Julia Honkasalo, have commented on my work, provided me with invaluable guid- ance on academic career development and inspired me to broaden my thinking. My thanks also go to the PPhiG co-ordinator Tuija Modinos. I have been privileged to be part of a closely knit group of doctoral students who attended Professor Pulkkinen’s seminars, and with whom I have regularly been able to discuss my work and share the joys and pains entailed in writing a PhD thesis. Mervi Patosalmi and Eeva Urrio have been following my work since I presented my very first research plan, and were soon joined by Jacek Kornak. Thank you to all three for all these years of friendship and support. Jaana Pir- skanen, Heini Kinnunen and Soili Petäjäniemi-Brown have also been part of the group, at earlier or later stages. Being a member of the Finnish Gender Studies Research School, led by Kirsi Saarikangas, gave me an opportunity to receive comments and advice from a v group of dedicated women’s studies professors. My thanks also go to all my fellow students and coordinators for many inspiring conversations and for making the Research School seminars events to look forward to. During the six years it took me to complete my doctoral studies I have been part of the gender studies communities in two different universities: I started these studies at the University of Jyväskylä, where I was first inspired to special- ize in gender studies, and completed a Master’s thesis in this field, and I finished my doctoral dissertation at the University of Helsinki. I warmly thank my col- leagues, in particular those with whom I had the good luck to share an office, in both universities. My thanks also go to all those who have taken an interest in my work, such as Maria Svanström, who read an early draft of the thesis. My research interests have also been shaped by my involvement in feminist politics beyond the academic world. I would like to thank everyone at the Euro- pean Women’s Lobby in Brussels where I have worked in recent years, in particular Cécile Gréboval and Mary Collins, for giving me the opportunity to discuss gender equality issues from a practical perspective. This dissertation was made possible financially by different institutions, which I hereby thank: the Kone Foundation, Academy of Finland (CoE Pol- Con), and the Faculty of Social Sciences and Philosophy of the University of Jyväskylä. Finally, I want to thank my parents, Ritva and Sakari Elomäki, for their sup- port and interest in the more or less wise choices I have made, and my friends in Jyväskylä, Helsinki and Brussels who have put up with me and cheered me up during these years. Special thanks go to my partner Jan Imgrund, for everything. Brussels, 22 April 2012 Anna Elomäki vi Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................iii Acknowledgements......................................................................................................v Abbreviations ............................................................................................................. ix 1 Introduction .........................................................................................................
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