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, eBook

1. 1 Researching the global everyday of women activists 1. 1 Researching the global everyday of women activists: Experiencing and doing globalisation Going through the broad spectrum of globalisation research and literature, one might be astonished at how much it assumes the force of global change, and how little of this literature demonstrates this force in an empirically grounded way. This study, being based on six months of empirical research in Malaysia in 2004, sets out to counter this lack of thick description of globalisation processes. It takes up the challenge of researching the 'global everyday' (Appadurai 2000, 18) of civil society actors in Malaysia and focuses on how social activists belonging to different branches of the women's movement selectively app- priate, transform and even create global meanings and materialise them in local practices. The methodological endeavour of combining globalisation research and ethnography has been taken up by a diversity of authors. Burawoy and his research team have developed a complex methodological framework by focusing on the experiential dimensions of globalisation. They want to produce a 'grounded globalisation' or 'perspectives on globalisations from below' (Burawoy 2000b, 338, 341). This perspective is very fruitful, as the notion of experiencing globalisation as 'forces, connections, and imaginations' (Burawoy et al. eds. 2000) relocates the global in the local and ties both together in mutual constitution.

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.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Spiegel, Anna

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Acknowledgements;6
2;Contents;8
3;List of Abbreviations;14
4;1 Introduction;17
4.1;1.1 Researching the global everyday of women activists: Experiencing and doing globalisation;17
4.2;1.2 Connecting threads: Globalisation, social movements, and social space;19
4.3;1.3 The case: Women’s movements and social transformation in Malaysia ;23
4.4;1.4 Research dimensions;26
4.4.1;1.4.1 Changing identities;26
4.4.2;1.4.2 The local and the global;27
4.4.3;1.4.3 Global and translocal agency of women;27
4.5;1.5 Structure of the study;28
5;Part One Entering the World of NGOs;30
5.1;2 Entering the World of NGOs: The Researcher’s Trajectory;31
5.1.1;2.1 The process of fieldwork;32
5.1.1.1;2.1.1 Towards a dense global ethnography;32
5.1.1.2;2.1.2 Interview situations: "This is off the record";37
5.1.2;2.2 Grounding globalisation;44
5.1.3;2.3 Events;48
5.1.4;2.4 Biographical narrations;49
5.2;3 Becoming an Activist: The Activists’ Trajectories;56
5.2.1;3.1 Aniza’s trajectory;56
5.2.2;3.2 "I started to question …";60
5.2.2.1;3.2.1 … the ‘tradition’ of the mothers and the ‘power’ of the fathers;60
5.2.2.2;3.2.2 … institutionalised gender hierarchies;68
5.2.2.3;3.2.3 … ethnicised hierarchies;77
5.2.3;3.3 "Stuying abroad, I saw how things could be different";83
5.2.4;3.4 "I can’t work for a profit-making company anymore";91
5.2.5;3.5 Developing everyday life techniques of reflexivity;97
6;Part Two Inside the World of NGOs: Constituting Female Counterpublics;104
6.1;4 Negotiating Gender Equality and Legal Reforms: Women’s Organisations in Kuala Lumpur;105
6.1.1;4.1 Celebrating International Women’s Day in Kuala Lumpur;105
6.1.2;4.2 Negotiating women’s rights in a multi-ethnic space;109
6.1.3;4.3 The debate on Violence Against Women;118
6.1.4;4.4 From local service to transnational social transformation;125
6.1.5;4.5 Popularising feminist concepts;134
6.1.6;4.6 Conclusion;141
6.2;5 Protecting Women’s Dignity: Women’s Organisations in Kelantan;144
6.2.1;5.1 "something needs to be done for the unfortunate women": Inside women’s organisations in Kelantan ;145
6.2.1.1;5.1.1 Wanita Inovatif Jari Diri (WIJADI), Women’s Innovative Self-Development Centre;145
6.2.1.2;5.1.2 Women’s Development Foundation of Kelantan (Yayasan Murni);147
6.2.2;5.2 "We don’t dabble with legal things":Debating different modes of social transformation ;153
6.2.3;5.3 "We in Keantan":Negotiating female dignity from an everyday perspective ;158
6.2.4;5.4 Connecting to the world: Rearranging local concerns in a global frame ;173
6.2.5;5.5 Conclusion;177
6.3;6 Defending the Quality of Life in a Global Economy;179
6.3.1;6.1 Defending the rights of working women against globalisation: The support group for home-based workers;179
6.3.2;6.2 Defending the housing rights of the urban poor: Alaigal and the Community Development Centre ;183
6.3.3;6.3 History of the organisations;185
6.3.3.1;6.3.1 From university to the plantations: Changing perspectives;185
6.3.3.2;6.3.2 From educational programmes to confrontation: Changing strategies;189
6.3.3.3;6.3.3 From an NGO to a political party: Changing political understandings;193
6.3.4; 6.4 From ‘development’ to ‘quality of life’: Deconstructing the state’s development concept ;194
6.3.5;6.5 Developing political agency on the basis of rights;204
6.3.5.1;6.5.1 De-ethnicising rights;208
6.3.5.2;6.5.2 Engendering rights;210
6.3.5.3;6.5.3 Globalising rights;215
6.3.6;6.6 Concluding remarks on Part Two: Multiple female counterpublics;217
7;Part Three Negotiating the Public Sphere in Local and Translocal Settings;221
7.1;7 Mechanisms of Publicness: Dress, Cultural Belonging, and Education 7 Mechanisms of Publicness;222
7.1.1;7.1 Facing systems of ignorance;222
7.1.2;7.2 fiYou on’t look like a Muslim to mefl:Dress and authority of knowledge 7.2 fiYo don’t look like a Muslim to mefl;230
7.1.3;7.3 fiThe tem ‘sister’ comes from Christianityfl:Cultural belonging and authority of knowledge 7.3 fiTheterm ‘sister’ comes from;234
7.1.4;7.4 fiWe annot question these thingsfl: Educatio and authority of knowledge 7.4 fiWe annot question these thingsfl;239
7.1.5;7.5 Conclusion;245
7.2;8 Constructing New Notions of Publicness;247
7.2.1;8.1 Reconstructing dress: fiIsam is not about dressf 8.1 Reconstructing dress;248
7.2.1.1;8.1.1 Between political uncovering and the apolitical garment;257
7.2.2;8.2 Reconstructing cultural belonging: fiBefore patriarchy, omen were the leadersfl 8.2 Reconstructing cultural belonging;260
7.2.2.1;8.2.1 Between appropriation and rejection of cultural otherness;268
7.2.3;8.3 Reconstructing epistemic culture: fiDowe need a degree in Islamic studies?fl 8.3 Reconstructing epistemic culture;269
7.2.3.1;8.3.1 Between feminisation of Islamic knowledge and de-Islamisation of the public sphere;273
7.2.4;8.4 Conclusion;277
7.3;9 Negotiating Rights within Diversity: Translocal Networking and Comparisons;279
7.3.1;9.1 Transcultural interactions at international conferences: The AsiaPacific NGO Forum;280
7.3.2;9.2 Between national diversity and global sisterhood;283
7.3.2.1;9.2.1 Rejecting sisterhood: Young women;289
7.3.2.2;9.2.2 Rejecting diversity and claiming sisterhood: Muslim women;290
7.3.3;9.3 Bringing diversity and translocal comparison back home: Political dimensions of diversity ;295
7.3.4;9.4 Bringing sisterhood back home: The CEDAW process in Malaysia;302
7.3.5;9.5 Conclusion;311
7.4;10 Conclusion: Translocal Knowledgescapes and Transnational Public Spheres;313
7.4.1;10.1 Creating female counterpublics;313
7.4.2;10.2 Modes of political action and of constituting public spheres;316
7.4.2.1;10.2.1 Creating alternative media spaces;316
7.4.2.2;10.2.2 Connecting different fields of knowledge;317
7.4.2.3;10.2.3 Redefining places;319
7.4.2.4;10.2.4 Redefining tradition and culture;320
7.4.2.5;10.2.5 Translocalising networks, issues, and bodies;321
7.4.3;10.3 Empirically grounding …;324
7.4.3.1;10.3.1 … translocal agency of women;324
7.4.3.2;10.3.2 … the transformation of identities;325
7.4.3.3;10.3.3 … the emergence of multiple transnational publics;327
8;Bibliography;331

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.