GEN&SEX 50B Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Combahee River, Queer Nation, American Indian Movement
20 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Relationship between nation-state, families, and individuals (Review from last lecture)
- All contemporary nation-building projects mobilize woman as symbol, but also mobilize
women’s participation as nation-builders
Women’s role during colonialism/ imperialism: motherhood (producing workers and
soldiers)
- Often state tries to influence shifts in family and gender roles
- Must look at specific historical context to understand where and when state works for women,
where it works against women
- Must also look at which women
- In many nation-building projects, the state implements reforms for women that only benefit the
most elite women
- Two dimensions in nationalist project (state building or redefining)
Women as symbol
Valued commodity
Mother
Womb
Vulnerability/ dependency
More dependent on the state (childcare, healthcare)
Susceptibility (border)
Women as historical actor and agent
Might even draw on claims made about her to make her own claims
Motherhood as an identity (to negotiate with the state through political
movements)
- Concluding thoughts:
The public/private divide takes different forms in different societies and at different
times
Aren’t equal spheres- more power to those who occupy the private sphere
Modern states have transferred aspects of private patriarchy to public patriarchy
Masculine body
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Therefore the state is a terrain of struggle for feminists
New Social Movements and Identity Politics
- What are the New Social Movements?
Emerged in the 1960s
Challenged the traditional political allegiances of Western liberal politics, worker-based
movements, state socialism
Thought about things other than class (identity based)
Broad-based and identity based
- Broad-based Movements:
Civil rights movement
Anti—Vietnam War activism
Environmental movement
Free speech on campus movement
- Identity- power Movement:
Black Power Movement
American Indian Movement
Chicano/a Movement (La Raza)
Feminist Movement
Gay and Lesbian Liberation Movement
- Identity politics:
Claiming ones identity as a member of an oppressed or marginalized group as a political
point of departure
Identity becomes a “major factor in political mobilization”
(Kathryn Woodward)
- Appealing to Identity- Two distinct ways:
Essentialist position:
Claims the group’s uniqueness
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Relationship between nation-state, families, and individuals (review from last lecture) All contemporary nation-building projects mobilize woman as symbol, but also mobilize women"s participation as nation-builders. Women"s role during colonialism/ imperialism: motherhood (producing workers and soldiers) Often state tries to influence shifts in family and gender roles. Must look at specific historical context to understand where and when state works for women, where it works against women. In many nation-building projects, the state implements reforms for women that only benefit the most elite women. Two dimensions in nationalist project (state building or redefining) More dependent on the state (childcare, healthcare) Might even draw on claims made about her to make her own claims. Motherhood as an identity (to negotiate with the state through political movements) The public/private divide takes different forms in different societies and at different times. Aren"t equal spheres- more power to those who occupy the private sphere. Modern states have transferred aspects of private patriarchy to public patriarchy.
