Description
Book SynopsisExamines how the rise of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) has transformed the conditions of women's lives and of feminist organizing. This book brings together feminist research on NGOs from various perspectives and disciplines.
Trade Review“
Theorizing NGOs offers timely and insightful perspectives on the intersection between NGOs, women’s experiences of NGOs and feminism across the world. Bringing together scholarly writings on women’s experiences with NGOs from different parts of the globe is definitely one of the highlights of the volume. . . . This volume is a must read for anyone interested in gender and development, and in the anthropology of the state.” -- Lipika Kamra * Social Anthropology *
"In representing more than a decade of energetic discussion and debate, this collection provides fantastic evidence of the dynamism and creativity of feminist activism in all of its forms.... It is a welcome and valuable contribution." -- Miranda Joseph * Women's Review of Books *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii
Introduction. The NGO Form: Feminist Struggles, States, and Neoliberalism / Victoria Bernal and Inderpal Grewal 1
Part I. NGOs Beyond Success or Failure 19
1. The Movementization of NGOs? Women's Organizing in Postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina / Elissa Helms 21
2. Failed Development and Rural Revolution in Nepal: Rethinking Subaltern Consciousness and Women's Empowerment / Lauren Leve 50
3. The State and Women's Empowerment in India Paradoxes and Politics / Aradhana Sharma 93
Part II. Postcolonial Neoliberalisms and the NGO Form 115
4. Global Civil Society and the Local Costs of Belonging: Defining Violence against Women in Russia / Julie Hemment 119
5. Resolving a Gendered Paradox: Women's Participation and the NGO Boom in North India / Kathleen O'Reilly 143
6. Power and Difference in Thai Women's NGO Activism / LeeRay M. Costa 166
7. Demystifying Microcredit: The Grameen Bank, NGOs, and Neoliberalism in Bangladesh / Lamia Karim 193
Part III. Feminist Social Movements and NGOs 219
8. Feminist Bastards: Toward a Posthumanist Critique of NGOization / Saida Hodzic 221
9. Lived Feminism(s) in Postcommunist Romania / Laura Grünberg 248
10. Women's Advocacy Networks: The European Union, Women's NGOs, and the Velvet Triangle / Sabine Lange 266
11. Beyond NGOization? Relrections from Latin America / Sonia E. Alvarez 285
Conclusion. Feminisms and the NGO Form / Victoria Bernal and Inderpal Grewal 301
Bibliography 311
Contributors 353
Index 357
