Lecture: Yoko Arisaka: The Absence of East Asian Women in Feminist Discourses: The Case of Japan, 09.04.2024, Vienna and virtual space

Ringvorlesung des Referats Genderforschung an der Univ. Wien; Organisation: Tomi Adeaga (Web)

Zeit: 09.04.2024, 18.30 Uhr
Ort: Gerda-Lerner-Saal/HS 41, Hauptgebäude der Univ. Wien, Universitätsring 1, 1010 Wien – und Online-Stream
Anmeldung für den Online-Stream (Web)

In the history of feminism, it is customary to start with the “first wave” of feminists from the 19th Century, and this strain becomes “liberal feminism”. Western feminism subsequently developed, and the “second wave” and “third wave” feminisms appeared. Now, we are perhaps at a “fourth” stage, at a “postfeminist” stage, or perhaps beyond decolonial feminism at a global stage. Against the mainstream white history of feminism, black feminism appeared, and feminism became intersectional. Against the Western history of feminism, postcolonial and decolonial feminisms challenged the exclusion of non-Western women. Curiously, in all of these narratives, “East Asian women” or East Asian feminists do not appear. Exclusions from the Western history of feminism might be understandable. Still, postcolonial and decolonial feminisms, while primarily non-Western in location, arise mainly from the “South” but not the “East” (Japan was a colonial power within Asia). Are there no feminisms particular to East Asia, where one-fourth of the women on earth live? Why are they absent? I argue that several issues contribute to this absence. First, “East Asia” cannot be a category – it essentializes what cannot be named together. Second, Confucian cultural practices, which are shared in many East Asian countries (China, Korea, Japan, etc.), may have precepts that make it difficult for women to think in terms of Western feminism (critique, independence, etc.). However, this is not to say that there is no feminism in East Asia. I take Japan as an example and discuss the short history of feminism in Japan.

Yoko Arisaka is a research associate with the German Research Foundation project, “Histories of Philosophy from a Global Perspective” at the Institute for Philosophy at the Univ. of Hildesheim, Germany. 1996-2007 she had been Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Univ. of San Francisco. Her field of research include political philosophy (including philosophy of race and feminism), modern Japanese philosophy, and phenomenology.Her publications include: Tetsugaku Companion to Nishida Kitaro, H. Matsumaru, Y. Arisaka, L. Schultz, eds. Springer, 2022. Histories of Philosophy and Thought in the Japanese Language from 1835 to 2021. L. Krings, Y. Arisaka, T. Kato, eds. Olms Verlag 2022. An Introduction to Cornel West in German (Prophetischer Pragmatismus: Eine Einführung in das Denken von Cornel West), J. Manemann, Y. Arisaka, V. Drell, A. M. Hauk. Fink Verlag: 2012.

Programm der Ringvorlesung

  • 09.04.2024: Yoko Arisaka: The Absence of East Asian Women in Feminist Discourses: The Case of Japan (Web)
  • 23.04.2024: Anke Graneß: Alternative Epistemologien im afrikanischen feministischen Diskurs: Das Konzept ‚ubuntu‘ (Web)
  • 14.05.2024: Alisha Saikia: Neo-Animism and Ecofeminism: An Essential Confluence to Deconstruct Patriarchal Structures (Web)
  • 28.05.2024: Lara Hofner: Archipelische Feminismen als interozeanische Solidaritäten (Web)
  • 18.06.2024: Krushil Watene: Storytelling and Regendering: Ngati Manu wahine (Web)

Ein langjähriger Streitpunkt zwischen Feminist*innen des sogenannten globalen Südens und europäischen/westlichen Feministinnen war die Tatsache, dass der westliche Feminismus die reiche Geschichte von Frauen in Afrika, Asien, Lateinamerika und dem Pazifik, die in die Vergangenheit zurückreicht, ignoriert hat. In ähnlicher Weise wird die Pluralität von Feminismen auf der ganzen Welt kaum anerkannt. Folglich sind die kulturell und historisch reichen afrikanischen, arabischen, karibischen, lateinamerikanischen, asiatisch-pazifischen und andere Feminismen in europäischen Gender-Lehrplänen immer noch unterrepräsentiert. Zudem haben viele dieser nicht-westlichen Feminismen starke kulturelle und sozio-politische Traditionen, die sie definieren, und voneinander unterscheiden. Weiterlesen … (Web)