Dissident Friendships: Feminism, Imperialism, and Transnational Solidarity (Dissident Feminisms)

Women enacting friendship across multiple borders Often perceived as unbridgeable, the boundaries that divide humanity from itself--whether national, gender, racial, political, or imperial--are rearticulated through friendship. Elora Halim Chowdhury and Liz Philipose edit a collection of essays that express the different ways women forge hospitality in deference to or defiance of the structures meant to keep them apart. Emerging out of postcolonial theory, the works discuss instances when the authors have negotiated friendship's complicated, conflicted, and contradictory terrain; offer fresh perspectives on feminists' invested, reluctant, and selective uses of the nation; reflect on how the arts contribute to conversations about feminism, dissent, resistance, and solidarity; and unpack the details of transnational dissident friendships. Contributors: Lori E. Amy, Azza Basarudin, Himika Bhattacharya, Kabita Chakma, Elora Halim Chowdhury, Laurie R. Cohen, Esha Niyogi De, Eglantina Gjermeni, Glen Hill, Alka Kurian, Meredith Madden, Angie Mejia, Chandra T. Mohanty, A. Wendy Nastasi, Nicole Nguyen, Liz Philipose, Anya Stanger, Shreerekha Subramanian, and Yuanfang Dai. Often perceived as unbridgeable, the boundaries that divide humanity from itself—whether national, gender, racial, political, or imperial—are rearticulated through friendship. Elora Halim Chowdhury and Liz Philipose edit a collection of essays that express the different ways women forge hospitality in deference to or defiance of the structures meant to keep them apart. Emerging out of postcolonial theory, the works discuss instances when the authors have negotiated friendship's complicated, conflicted, and contradictory terrain; offer fresh perspectives on feminists' invested, reluctant, and selective uses of the nation; reflect on how the arts contribute to conversations about feminism, dissent, resistance, and solidarity; and unpack the details of transnational dissident friendships. Contributors: Lori E. Amy, Azza Basarudin, Himika Bhattacharya, Kabita Chakma, Elora Halim Chowdhury, Laurie R. Cohen, Esha Niyogi De, Eglantina Gjermeni, Glen Hill, Alka Kurian, Meredith Madden, Angie Mejia, Chandra T. Mohanty, A. Wendy Nastasi, Nicole Nguyen, Liz Philipose, Anya Stanger, Shreerekha Subramanian, and Yuanfang Dai.| Cover Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Introduction PART ONE: PRAXIS OF FRIENDSHIP 1. Epistemic Friendships: Collective Knowledge-Making through Transnational Feminist Praxis 2. Meditations on Friendship: Politics of Feminist Solidarity in Ethnography PART TWO: GENDER, NATION, SOLIDARITY 3. Bridging the Divide in Feminism with Transcultural Feminist Solidarity: Using the Example of Forging Friendship and Solidarity between Chinese and U. S. Women 4. For Sister or State? Nationalism and the Indigenous and Bengali Women's Movements in Bangladesh 5. Solidarity through Dissidence: Violence and Community in Indian Cinema PART THREE: NEOLIBERALISM, AGENCY, FRIENDSHIP 6. Kinship Drives, Friendly Affect: Difference and Dissidence in the New Indian Border Cinema 7. The Space Between Us: Reading Umrigar and Sangari in the Quest for Female Friendship 8. Who Are "We" in the Novel? PART FOUR: FRIENDSHIP ACROSS BORDERS 9. A Spirit of Solidarity: Transatlantic Friendships among Early Twentieth-century Female Peace Activists (Wilpfers) 10. The Dissidence of Daily Life: Feminist Friendships and the Social Fabric of Democracy Contributors Index | "Elora Halim Chowdhury and Liz Philipose's dazzling collection invites readers to consider the politics of feminist friendships, alliances, and collaborations. The volume explores the powerful ways that we can be transformed by our connections with others, and urges a new attention to feminist friendships as sites of generosity and empathy, alliance and resistance. Chowdhury and Philiopose's volume reminds us that friendship is fraught terrain, that we encounter each other across borders and boundaries of multiple kinds, and that the language of friendship can be co-opted by discourses of neoliberalism and imperialism. Yet their contributors urge us to continue to dream of the promise of connection, consciousness, and transformation that dissident friendships make possible."—Jennifer Nash, author of The Black Body in Ecstasy: Reading Race, Reading Pornography "Rejuvenating our expectations of the most commonplace of human relations, Dissident Friendships challenges us to politicize that which is either overlooked or dismissed by more mainstream academic investigations. The intricate, and compassionate, analyses of friendship presented in these pages leave us renewed and provide an energizing vision for Gender Studies scholarship, social transformation and productive solidarities."—Shefali Chandra, author of The Sexual Life of English: Languages of Caste and Desire in Colonial India ... Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Praxis of friendship -- Epistemic friendships : collective knowledge making through transnational feminist praxis / Nicole Nguyen, A. Wendy Nastasi, Angie Mejia, Anya Stanger, Meredith Madden ; (Postscript by Chandra Talpade Mohanty) -- Meditations on friendship : politics of feminist solidarities in ethnography / Azza Basarudin and Himika Bhattacharya -- Gender, nation, solidarity -- Bridging the divide in feminism with transcultural feminist solidarity : using the example of forging friendship and solidarity between Chinese and U.S. women / Yuanfang Dai -- For sister or state? : nationalism and the indigenous and Bengali women's movements in Bangladesh / Kabita Chakma and Glen Hill -- Solidarity through dissidence : violence and community in Indian cinema / Alka Kurian -- Neoliberalism, agency, friendship -- Kinship drives, friendly affect : difference and dissidence in new Indian border cinema / Esha Niyogi De -- The space between us : reading Umrigar and Sangari in the quest for female friendship / Elora Halim Chowdhury -- Who are "we" in the novel? / Shreerekha Subramanian -- Friendship across borders -- A spirit of solidarity : transatlantic friendships among early twentieth-century female peace activists (Wilpfers) / Laurie R. Cohen -- The dissidence of daily life : feminist friendships and the social fabric of democracy / Lori E. Amy and Eglantina Gjermeni -- Contributors -- Index. Often perceived as unbridgeable, the boundaries that divide humanity from itself - whether national, gender, racial, political or imperial - are rearticulated through friendship. Here, Elora Chowdhury and Liz Philipose edit a collection of essays that express the different ways women forge hospitality in deference to or defiance of the structures meant to keep them apart. Emerging out of postcolonial theory, the works discuss instances when the authors have negotiated friendship's complicated, conflicted and contradictory terrain; offer fresh perspectives on feminists' invested, reluctant and selective uses of the nation; reflect on how the arts contribute to conversations about feminism, dissent, resistance and solidarity; and unpack the details of transnational dissident friendships