1st Edition
Mapping Feminist International Relations in South Asia Past and Present
This book provides a comprehensive overview of feminist international relations in South Asia. It highlights the key contentions, debates, and tensions in the field, and studies how the trajectory of feminist international relations in the region has been marked by dialogue, dissidence, and difference with the Global North. In doing so, the volume draws attention to different feminist histories, herstories, and differing ways of knowing, seeing, and doing global politics. It particularly foregrounds a feminist intersectional/ postcolonial lens to a diverse range of issues such as women, peace and the security agenda, populism and nationalism, militarism and militarisation, and underlines the rich textured contours of feminist epistemologies in South Asia.
An important contribution, the book will be of great interest to scholars, teachers, and students of feminism, international relations, postcolonialism, women's studies, gender studies, security studies, and South Asian studies.
Section I: Thinking Feminist Epistemologies ‘Differently’ in South Asia
Chapter 1: Can Feminist IR Hear Differing Voice? A Critical Reading of Feminist Historie(s) in South Asia, ‘Reification’ and Boundaries
Shweta Singh
Chapter 2: ‘A Feminist Debt’: Conversation between Feminist and Non-Western Thought
Medha Bisht
Chapter 3: Framing Feminist Strategic Discourse: Jahanara Begum and the Exchange of Letters During the War of Succession (1657-9)
Aafreen Rashid
Chapter 4: Silencing and Questioning: The Quest for Peace and a New Praxis in South Asia?
Saba Gul Khattak
Chapter 5: Feminist Engagement with a Racist State: Ethical, Political and Epistemological Dilemma
Farzana Haniffa
Section II: Re-thinking Women, Peace and Security Agenda
Chapter 6: Which Women, What Women, What Peace and Whose Agenda in South Asia?
Bina D’ Costa & Swati Parashar
Chapter 7: International Dimension of Feminist South Asia: The case of the WPS Agenda
Soumita Basu
Chapter 8: Performative Impact or Transformative Change: Implementation of the WPS Agenda in Nepal
Punam Yadav
Chapter 9: Violent Extremism and the ‘Prevention’ Pillar in the WPS Agenda: Critical Perspectives from Bangladesh
Lailufar Yasmin
Section III: Gender, Populism and Nationalism
Chapter 10: Wall Art Wave in Sri Lanka: Sinhala Buddhist Militarized Male Body as an Authoritarian Populist Space
Anushka Kahandagamaga
Chapter 11: Framing Political Masculinity and Gendered Populism: Bangladesh and the World
Amena Mohsin
Chapter 12: Gender, Populism and Nationalism: Mapping the Indian Context
B. Rajeshwari and Nandini Deo
Section IV: Militarism and Militarisation
Chapter 13: Does Militarization have one form? Narratives from the Darjeeling Himalayas
Dipti Tamang
Chapter 14: Military, Militants and Men: The “3M’s” dominating Pakistan’s war on terror in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province
Farooq Yousaf
Biography
Shweta Singh is Associate Professor of International Relations at the South Asian University, New Delhi, India.
Amena Mohsin teaches in the Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
“This unique and layered collection reveals the distinct South Asian feminist conceptualizations of international relations and its components. Essays theorize feminist contributions on aspects of foreign policy, conflict, power and inter community relations in specific South Asian countries. Path breaking essays excavate how women have advised on the criticality of negotiations, leveraging interests and compromise during key power struggles in medieval and ancient India, that authoritatively show that while feminism may be an aspect of modernity, women’s contribution to the understanding of state and power relations are embedded in South Asian history. This book makes significant contribution to knowledge by uncovering the debt of contemporary international relations to the hitherto hidden contribution of women and feminists in the understanding of the constituent elements of international relations.”
Anuradha Chenoy, Adjunct Professor, Jindal Global University; Associate Fellow Transnational Institute -The Netherlands; Former dean and professor School of International Studies, JNU, India
“A pioneering work on Feminist International Relations in South Asia, this volume expertly weaves together cross-cutting themes central to the feminist agenda: feminist knowledge production, WPS, gendered populism, nationalism, and militarization. A must-read for anyone interested in feminist IR and gender in South Asia.”
Keshab Giri, Lecturer in International Relations, School of International Relations, University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK and Research Fellow, Women and Public Policy Program, Harvard Kennedy School
“This volume makes an outstanding contribution to the field of Feminist International Relations. The editors have brought together an impressive group of South Asian feminist scholars who offer innovative and critical insights across a range of issues at the heart of the Feminist IR agenda.”
Monika Barthwal-Datta, Senior Lecturer in International Security at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney, Australia
“Mapping first and second generation South Asian feminist scholarship, this important collection takes place and space seriously, considering not only how geography and epistemology are intertwined but also how global issues and events are apprehended and understood in the region. The volume features compelling contributions from leading scholars and is a must-read both for anyone wishing to understand the dynamics of gendered politics and power in South Asia and for those seeking to further their knowledge of debates in feminist IR more broadly.”
Laura J. Shepherd, Professor of International Relations, School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Sydney, Australia
