Proshant Chakraborty

Room: 302

Welcome to our second seminar.

Slides: 3.feminist-applied-activist-part-2.pptx

After having examined the broad genealogies between feminist and anthropological thought and their convergences/divergences, we will now look at some "practical" issues of how such collaborations can take place, what their promises are, and what kinds of problems they raise.

We will begin by reading the work of Richa Nagar and the Sangtins once again, this time their engagement with "NGOization," a concept which describes how feminist activism was co-opted by discourses and practices of NGOs and other transnational and neoliberal institutions.

In particular, we will try to problematize the fact that, on the one hand, NGOs can be agents of change in local communities, as they involve subaltern and marginalized groups into collectives and provide ways of negotiating with states and transnational institutions. On the other hand, NGOs also impose certain constraints, most notably that of reducing complex sociopolitical issues - whether caste violence and discrimination or gender-based violence - into technical problems. This often forecloses other political modes of action that citizens and social groups can have access to, often in the domain of electoral politics.

What, then, can feminist and anthropological practice teach us? Can these insights help navigate these issues of NGOization, co-option, and depoliticization?

Our second text is an activist-anthropological account by Melissa Beske, especially her efforts to collaborate with local actors in Belize to respond to gender-based intimate partner violence.

Readings:

Sangtin Writers. 2006. Chapter 6: Challenges of NGOization and Dreams of Sangtin. From Playing with Fire.

Beske, Melissa A. 2015. Employing Scholar-Activist Anthropology to Counter Gender-Based Intimate Partner Violence in Belize. In Applying Anthropology to Gender-Based Violence: Global Issues, Local Responses , edited by Jennifer R. Wies and Hillary H. Haldane. Lexington Books. (Link).

Suggested reading:

Nagar, Richa. 2006. Postscript: NGOs, global feminisms, and collaborative border crossings. From Playing With Fire.

Gardner, Katy. 2019. Chapter 10: Anthropology and Development. In Jeremy MacClancy, ed. Exotic No More: Anthropology and the Contemporary World . (Physical book available at GU Library).