Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"The big, global story of the many feminisms on our planet today. . . . This is a fantastic book [that] everyone should go check out. . . . Even feminists I know who have been studying feminism for a very long time would get a lot out of this book. This really is an incredible work."-- "This Is Hell!" "Delap offers a new and wide-ranging account of the global history of feminisms, drawing on an innovative range of sources to explore the rich, diverse and radical roots of feminist movements across time and space. Addressing the powerful contributions of feminisms while also examining their limitations, exclusions and complicities, this book is a triumph of feminist historiography that shows the innumerable different ways of imagining women's freedom around the world. . . . We are taken on a journey that includes figures and events that would not have been classified as feminist at the time of their occurrence, stretching from colonial West Africa to Imperial Japan, and through an innovative use of source material ranging from political pamphlets to zines and songs. . . . In its interconnected narrative, [her book is] a powerful political argument about what feminism is (or should be). And indeed, as her title reminds us, feminism has never just been one thing. There were, and remain, innumerable different ways of imagining women's freedom around the world. Far too many to be reduced to a slogan on a t-shirt."-- "LSE Review of Books" "A brilliant work of feminist scholarship that is global in scope, rigorous in analysis, and inviting in its storytelling."--Hyaeweol Choi, author of Gender Politics at Home and Abroad: Protestant Modernity in Colonial-Era Korea "Delap provides a concise but thorough history of the variety of feminist movements that have formed over the last century, bringing a sense of shared vision and voice to a diverse history without forcing a false unity."--Carla Jones, University of Colorado Boulder "Delap wields the concept of feminism to show how activists 'politicize the injustices of gender' across 250 years and six continents. Attentive to the blind spots and complicities of many feminist ventures, she also recognizes its affinities and resonance across generations, geographies, and genders. This brilliant book probes feminism's meanings and materializations through chapters on dreams, feelings, objects, and songs as well as ideas, looks, spaces, and actions."--Nancy A. Hewitt, author of Radical Friend: Amy Kirby Post and Her Activist Worlds "This is an extraordinary and beautiful history of the global struggles against the injustices of gender. It brings the battles of feminists to life, not only through their ideas and campaigns, but also their dreams, songs, anger, and the material dimensions of their activism--their bloomers, badges, and veils, their refuges, workplaces, and borderlands."--Hannah Dawson, King's College London "This outstanding work . . . takes a thematic approach to the topic of global feminist history to provide a unified vision that maintains appropriate nuance. . . . It's masterful."--Jana Byars "New Books in Gender Studies" "Delap's telling is unique amongst histories of feminism. As it tears across the globe, Feminisms reveals familiar organizations, projects, agitators, and obstacles in new garb and places them alongside ones conventionally overlooked. Start with any chapter and savor every generous, undogmatic page."--Bonnie G. Smith, Board of Governors Distinguished Professor Emerita of History, Rutgers University "Delap recognizes the feminists who were lost in the relaying of the history of the women's movement or who were prevented from joining it in the first place. . . . Feminisms provides insight into the concept itself and provides the opportunity to address the complexity of the feminist movement, the fragmentation within feminism attributable to its visibly western-centric perspective, and the experiences of forgotten and ignored feminists. The book adds to the discourse on social construction and highlights the significance of inclusion and the corresponding bias that results with the adoption of a single perspective. Outside of the discussion of feminism, Delap's thematic approach is a reminder that there are more voices than the ones being heard; this is a lesson in itself."-- "Journal of International Women's Studies"
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter 1
Dreams
Chapter 2
Ideas
Chapter 3
Spaces
Chapter 4
Objects
Chapter 5
Looks
Chapter 6
Feelings
Chapter 7
Actions
Chapter 8
Songs
Conclusion: Global Feminisms
Acknowledgements
Notes
Further Reading
Index
