ABSTRACT Title of dissertation : FEMINISM À LA QUEBEC: IDEOLOGICAL TRAVELINGS OF AMERICAN AND FRENCH THOUGHT (1960-2010) Geneviève Pagé, Doctor of Philosophy, 2012 Dissertation directed by: Professor Claire Moses Department of Women’s Studies This dissertation examines the travelings of three concepts central to feminism – gender, queer, and intersectionality – as they move between the United States, France, and Quebec. The concept of gender, central to U.S. feminism, is relatively absent from feminist theory in France and Quebec until the 1990s; rather, drawing on Marxist and existentialist traditions, French and Quebec feminists will deploy the term “rapports sociaux de sexe” to identify that differences among women and men are grounded in social structure and, further, that the two classes, women and men, are constituted in hierarchicized relation. The term queer, linguistically subversive in English but lacking this potential when translated into French, is mainly resisted by French materialist feminists and feminist scholars in Quebec on the basis that it displaces social reality focusing instead on resistance through performance. Nonetheless, in Quebec, activists groups such as Les panthères rose are able to present a version of queer that also addresses systemic oppressions. Finally, the concept of intersectionality, theorized first by feminists of color in the U.S. trying to reconcile their allegiances to multiple struggles, provides a useful tool for analyzing the interaction between different systems of oppression and how they shape the lives of people differently located. In France, a similar desire to theorize multiple oppressions led to the development of the concept of “consubstantialité des rapports sociaux,” whereby social “rapports” of sex and of socio- economic class are co-constituted. Yet, in the context of changing immigration patterns and a debate on the headscarf, French feminists re-examine the concept of intersectionality to enhance their understanding of racialization and its interaction with gendered structures. In Quebec, a look at three different moments reveals an early theorization of the interaction of multiple oppressions by capitalism, patriarchy, and colonialism with feminists, drawing on their experiences as separatist movement participants, self-identifying as “racialized” based on the model of Third World national liberation struggle. In the 1990s and again in 2007, however, feminists will struggle to develop new models of pluralism that address the marginalization, within society in general and also within feminism, of women from minority ethnocultural or religious groups. FEMINISM À LA QUEBEC: IDEOLOGICAL TRAVELINGS OF AMERICAN AND FRENCH THOUGHT (1960-2010) by Geneviève Pagé Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2012 Advisor Committee: Professor Claire Moses, Chair Professor John Caughey Professor Francine Descarries Professor Michelle Rowley Professor Nancy Struna © Copyright by Geneviève Pagé 2012 Acknowledgements Many people have encouraged my intellectual development and the research for this project. First, I want to thank the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canadian and the University of Maryland for their financial support. I am grateful for the generosity of both the Institut de recherches et d’études féministes (IREF) of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and the Collectif de recherche sur l’autonomie collective (CRAC-Kébec) who shared the content of their research data base, giving me access to the content of interviews done in recent years, thus providing me with complete and rigorously collected material on which to ground my research. In addition, I want to thank the Department of Women’s Studies at the University of Maryland for giving me the opportunity to pursue this intellectual journey, and in addition, to give me the freedom to explore, try avenues, to fail, to slow down, and to start again, while always respecting my thought process. Professors from this department that particularly influenced my thinking are professor Michelle Rowley, professor Katie King, professor Seung-Kyung Kim, and professor Bonnie Thorton Dill. I also want to recognize the support of my friends and family, particularly the intellectual stimulation offered by friends such as Ève-Marie Lampron, André Munro, Maren Cumming, Mélissa Blais, Julie Enzner, Mary Bazemore, and Elsa Galerand. Members of my committee – professor Nancy Struna, professor John Caughey, professor Michelle Rowley, and professor Francine Descarries – have helped me refine and clarify my thoughts. In particular, the investment of professor Francine Descarries and her commitment to my success need to be recognized. And finally, but far from the least, I could not have ii continued this journey without the commitment and devotion of my adviser professor Claire Moses. Her intellectual and emotional support was vital to the completion of this journey. iii Table of Contents List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... vi Chapter 1 – Introduction: Designing an Itinerary................................................................1 Roadmap .........................................................................................................................7 Chapter 2 – Packing up the Suitcase: Setting the Stage.....................................................19 Defining a Framework: Globalization, Transnationalism, Border-Crossing, Contact Zones, and Translation ..................................................................................................19 Research and Theoretical Questions, Methodology and Methods.................................27 Text analysis ..............................................................................................................32 Interviews...................................................................................................................33 Lay of the Land: Why Montreal? ..................................................................................37 Understanding Montreal through the Historical, Social, and Political Context of Quebec and Canada ......................................................................................................42 The Quebec Nationalist Movement ...........................................................................44 Feminism and Nationalism in Quebec.......................................................................49 Montreal Feminism in Two Languages .......................................................................51 Chapter 3 – The Travelings of Gender .............................................................................56 Gender in the United States ...........................................................................................58 French Treatment of (non)Gender ................................................................................65 Gender in Montreal........................................................................................................81 Chapter 4 – A Queer Journey ..........................................................................................101 Queer Activism in the early 1990s in the United States .............................................102 Queer Theory ..............................................................................................................107 Queer in France ...........................................................................................................117 Vive le Québec Queer! ................................................................................................126 Early Queer Activism ..............................................................................................126 Queer in the Francophone Academy: The 1990s.....................................................129 Les Panthères Roses.................................................................................................134 A Critique of Queer Theory.........................................................................................142 Feminism Fights Back .............................................................................................143 Investment in Cultural Politics.................................................................................149 The disappearance of Lesbians and the Return of Male Privileges.........................151 Conclusion: On the Complicated Relation Between Theory and Activism ...............159 Chapter 5 - Intersectionality in Multiple Locations.........................................................162 U.S. Intersectionality: Theorizing from a Racialized Position ....................................163 French Intersections: On Consubstantiality, Co-extensity, and the French Treatment of Intersectionality .......................................................................................................181 Pluralism and Intersectionality in Quebec Feminist Theory........................................198 iv The 1960s and 1970s: Intersecting (Ethnic)Nationalism, Capitalism, and Patriarchy .....................................................................................................................210 The Forum Pour un Québec Féminin Pluriel...............................................................215