Spiegel Contested Public Spheres

Female Activism and Identity Politics in Malaysia
1. Auflage 2010
ISBN: 978-3-531-92371-0
Verlag: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 369 Seiten, Web PDF

Reihe: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law

This ethnographic monograph deals with women’s organisations in an increasingly Islamised Malaysia and how they are fighting for women’s rights and gender equality. Departing from an in-depth description of the life-world of female activists, Anna Spiegel highlights the significance of the global negotiations of gender relations for identity politics, the articulation of the local and the global within translocally acting social movements and the significance of globalisation for female agency. The study discusses the role of counterpublics in the development of subversive identity constructions and the renegotiation of the normative bases of publicness in the gendered fields of dress, cultural belonging, epistemic culture and Islam. Bringing together the global and the local, this is a global ethnography in the truest sense.

This book is essential reading for researchers in the social sciences, in particular, cultural studies, subaltern studies, sociology, gender studies and Islamic studies. In addition, it is also of interest to scientists looking for new research methodologies in the study of globalisation.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Spiegel, Anna

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Entering the World of NGOs.- Entering the World of NGOs: The Researcher’s Trajectory.- Becoming an Activist: The Activists’ Trajectories.- Inside the World of NGOs: Constituting Female Counterpublics.- Negotiating Gender Equality and Legal Reforms: Women’s Organisations in Kuala Lumpur.- Protecting Women’s Dignity: Women’s Organisations in Kelantan.- Defending the Quality of Life in a Global Economy.- Negotiating the Public Sphere in Local and Translocal Settings.- Mechanisms of Publicness: Dress, Cultural Belonging, and Education.- Constructing New Notions of Publicness.- Negotiating Rights within Diversity: Translocal Networking and Comparisons.- Conclusion: Translocal Knowledgescapes and Transnational Public Spheres.

Leseproben

Part Two Inside the World of NGOs: Constituting Female Counterpublics Negotiating Gender Equality and Legal Reforms: Women’s Organisations in Kuala Lumpur (S. 103-104)

4 Negotiating Gender Equality and Legal Reforms

4.1 Celebrating International

Women’s Day in Kuala Lumpur On the first weekend of March 2004, I attended the celebration of International Women’s Day in Kuala Lumpur. The celebration took place in Kuala Lumpur’s biggest shopping centre, the Mid Valley Megamall, as an event called ‘A Girl’s Day Out—It Starts With Respect’. The event was hosted by the popular television programme 3R, a programme targeting young women in Malaysia. On the official website of 3R, which stands for ‘Relax, Respect, Respond’, the programme presents itself as taking up ‘women’s issues’ and as employing staff members who are engaged in different NGOs.

For the first time in the history of International Women’s Day in Malaysia, it was organised not only by the two oldest feminist women’s organisations—the Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) and the All Women’s Action Society (AWAM)—but also by human rights organisations such as the local branch of Amnesty International (AI), the Malaysian Aids Council (MAC), and the Sisters in Islam (SIS), an organisation belonging to the current wave of Muslim feminism. The event took place in the Exhibition Centre of the gigantic Megamall, normally reserved for commercial exhibitions such as an ‘Indian Wedding Exhibition’.

The whole event addresses a rather young public, especially young girls, and is centred on the idea of ‘respect’ and girl power, self-empowerment and self-defence. The theme of girl’s and women’s right to a safe environment was chosen in relation to a recent increase in crimes against women. The joint press statement of all the organisations involved in this IWD refers to this issue: Sadly, with the many brutal incidents of sexual violence highlighted in the press lately, women and girls have become afraid of going out to public places and there are more restrictions facing women’s activities and movements.

We believe that women in Malaysia have the right to feel safe not only in the home but also in public spaces and should be able to have the same freedom as men to move around and participate in events and activities around them. Our theme for this year `A Girl’s Day Out—It Begins with Respect’ emphasises this need to create a safer environment for women to be equal members of society. (Women`s Aid Organisation et al. 2004) The announcement for the event on the 3R website highlights the combination of fun and seriousness:

Über Autor(innen)

Anna Spiegel is currently employed at the Freie Universität Berlin, where she is coordinating desiguALdades.net, the Research Network on Inderdependent Inequalities in Latin America.