On Feminist/Gender Approaches in an Intersecting World

Arun, S ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2950-3157 (2016) On Feminist/Gender Approaches in an Intersecting World. In: The Interwoven World: Ideas and Encounters in History. CommonGround Publishing, pp. 228-239. ISBN 978-1-61229-828-3

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Abstract

Scholarly discussions on the global society relate to how societies and individuals are interconnected in time and space, described as ‘the intensification of consciousness’ by Robertson (1992); the ‘global age’ by Albrow (1996) or deterritorialisation (Papastergiadis 2000). In general these global processes embrace multiple identities, plurality of cultural meanings leading to uncertainty and flux (eg Bauman 2007). For feminists this difference and ambiguity blurs notions about essentialist notions of sex and gender that can only be deconstructed through multiple sites of power and identities. In general, feminist theory and gender studies as influential social theories focus on the status of women and men in society. In this chapter, the terms ‘feminist’ and ‘gender’ are used interchangeably, thrusting emphasis on social and gender relations. This chapter sets the scene through reflections on concepts and methodology of analytical and theoretical foci on gender, feminism and global societal development to bring out the interactions between social thought, practices and experiences in an increasingly changing and connected world. It provides some contributions on the intersectional approach within feminist thought and global discourses.