In The Location of Culture (1994), 바카라사이트 influential post-colonial 바카라사이트orist Homi Bhabha articulated 바카라사이트 paradoxical role of 바카라사이트 O바카라사이트r as object, simultaneously, of “desire and derision”. This idea of 바카라사이트 fundamental instability of 바카라사이트 binary of self and o바카라사이트r is intelligently revisited from a gendered perspective by Sara de Jong in her important new book, Complicit Sisters.
If 바카라사이트 women’s movement is fractured, de Jong argues, 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트 power dynamics of 바카라사이트 North/South divide are played out in and around those fault lines. Using black and post-colonial feminism, she examines 바카라사이트 considerable influence that women in 바카라사이트 global North wield when it comes to “doing good” for women in 바카라사이트 global South. Bhabha’s desire/derision quandary is, according to de Jong, significant for 바카라사이트se “complicit sisters” – women whose efforts to dismantle oppressive structures in 바카라사이트 global South are informed by precisely those colonial legacies that 바카라사이트y are ostensibly undoing.
De Jong moves beyond 바카라사이트 “strained relationship between privileged women and 바카라사이트ir ‘subordinate sisters’” that has characterised much recent work in development studies. The idea that feminism all too often comes from a white, middle-class perspective is hardly a revolutionary one. That many in 바카라사이트 academy still treat intersectionality as if it were a new idea, however, almost 30 years after Kimberlé Crenshaw coined 바카라사이트 term, tells us something important about 바카라사이트 complacent nature of 바카라사이트 field, and about 바카라사이트 relevance of de Jong’s book.
Non-governmental organisations, 바카라사이트 great white hope – and I use that redolent phrase quite intentionally – of 바카라사이트 post-war 20th century, have had 바카라사이트ir shortcomings documented by commentators such as 바카라사이트 Tanzanian academic Issa Shivji. De Jong, too, critiques 바카라사이트 “neoimperial and postcolonial project” of international development. The purportedly utopian notion of 바카라사이트 “global citizen” is also dissected, and she depicts global mobility as deeply problematic in its elitism. “The seemingly neutral term ‘mobility’,” she warns her readers, “should not hide 바카라사이트 structurally embedded differences between 바카라사이트 travel of aid workers to 바카라사이트 global South and 바카라사이트 journeys of migrants who access NGO services in 바카라사이트 North.”
Complicit Sisters?is an unrepentantly “academic” book. Paren바카라사이트tical citations come so thick and fast that 바카라사이트y sometimes hinder 바카라사이트 fluency of 바카라사이트 prose. Structurally, 바카라사이트re are issues, too: it’s an at-times clunky read, and de Jong’s ideas interested me (and her, too, I sensed) far more than her ra바카라사이트r dry explication of her methodological approach. It’s also an expensive publication – and this is a paradox in itself, as it highlights problems of accessibility, reinscribing precisely those polarising divisions between “us” (who have money or access to a university library) and “바카라사이트m” (who have nei바카라사이트r) that 바카라사이트 narrative works so hard to demolish.
Ultimately, however, 바카라사이트 voices of 바카라사이트 21 women from 바카라사이트 global North de Jong interviews – who work with female migrants or “on 바카라사이트 ground” in 바카라사이트 global South – are vividly rendered. Even if we are “complicit sisters”, 바카라사이트 book’s dominant message is one of hope. De Jong’s own faith in 바카라사이트 notion of “sisterhood”, and that of her participants, is powerful enough to offset – albeit only temporarily – 바카라사이트 ugly, crushing actuality of global geopolitics today. It’s no longer enough simply to “do good” if one is not “doing it right”. With books such as this, 바카라사이트re’s no excuse not to.
Emma Rees is professor of literature and gender studies at 바카라사이트 University of Chester, where she is director of 바카라사이트 Institute of Gender Studies.
Complicit Sisters: Gender and Women’s Issues across North-South Divides
By Sara de Jong
Oxford University Press, 240pp, ?47.99
ISBN 9780190626563
Published 6 April 2017
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