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Geetanjali Singh Chanda
Women's and Gender Studies Yale University
'(Other) Feminisms (Other) Values'
Are 'Asian values', 'American values' and 'family values' the same? These terms have taken on multiple meanings and have different connotations in different cultural contexts. In the first instance, this paper examines these value systems to see what, if any, common features they share. The second and more specific focus of the paper is to examine the ways in which Asian/American/family values relate to various interpretations of Feminism. In examining Asian or American values, the paper also explores the differences and similarities between notions of 'Eastern' and 'Western' feminisms. It questions whether these notions pave the way for dialogue or if they merely harden cultural values articulated in the 'West and the rest' debate. Generational differences in women's own reactions to feminisms and possible reasons for these differences are also explored. The notion of the family transcends geography and culture. However, each individual variation of the 'family' is firmly grounded in a specific geography, history and culture. The disintegration of 'the family' as we know it is often attributed to the rise of feminism. Young women in Hong Kong and in the US attribute their anxiety about family-life and family values to feminism. How do new feminisms, the so-called 'fourth wave' and beyond, address these fears? This paper is based on comparative student perspectives. It draws upon student reactions in journals and classroom discussions - from the University of Hong Kong, English Language Class at the Women's Centre (Hong Kong), and Yale University from 1991-2003.
Bio: Geetanjali Singh Chanda is a lecturer in Women's and Gender Studies, American Studies and the English Department at Yale University. She holds a doctoral degree from Hong Kong University and a Master's degree from George Washington University. She has participated in numerous international conferences and published widely in international journals and periodicals. Her 'Asian Values and the Export of American Feminism' was published as an occasional paper by the Centre for Advanced Studies, Singapore: 2000. Most recently she has co-authored a chapter called 'Portrayals of Gender and Generation, East and West: Suzie Wong in the Noble House' in Before and After Suzie: Hong Kong in Western Film and Literature (The Chinese University of Hong Kong: 2002) and 'Mapping Motherhood:The Fiction of Anita Desai' in the Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering (York University: Toronto 2002).
<geetanjali.chanda@yale.edu>