Indigenous Feminism in Southern Mexico (original) (raw)
Neo-liberal Globalization has pushed indigenous women more and more into contact with Western culture and feminism, and feminists are discovering how the rich and unique experience of the struggle of indigenous women can offer a more comprehensive and holistic feminist theory. Indigenous forms of feminism are an important site of struggle that explicitly recognize the vital issues of cultural identity, nationalism and decolonization. This paper explores the situations from which emerged indigenous feminism in southern Mexico and examines the ways in which indigenous women from this region struggle to draw on and navigate Western ideologies while preserving and attempting to reclaim some indigenous traditions, such as pluriculturalism and complimentarity, which have been eroded with the imposition of the dominant western culture and ideology. Indigenous feminism contests the existence of a universal feminism and the existence of universal truths and rights in favor of a more inclusive discourse of equality as difference. The struggles of indigenous women hold a lesson and opportunity, not only for feminists, but for all people in the industrialized world to begin to open our eyes and make space for the plurality, not universality, of the earth and its rich cultures.
Sign up for access to the world's latest research.
checkGet notified about relevant papers
checkSave papers to use in your research
checkJoin the discussion with peers
checkTrack your impact
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.