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Face to Face: Contextualizing Transnational Feminist Solidarity: Reflections on the case of Iran
Abstract
This paper contextualizes contemporary discussion of the evolving notion(s) of transnational feminist networks by examining the case of Iran since the 1997 election of (former president) Mohammed Khatami. I center the paper around the One Million Signatures Campaign for Equality, a nationally-focused grassroots effort that combines demands for legal gender equality with a public education campaign involving women and men across socio-economic boundaries and the urban/rural divide. Combining grassroots organizing with transnational networking, the campaign attempts to maintain autonomy and authenticity in the face of growing international visibility and support. I explore the ways in which campaign activists employ tools such as the internet, as well as more conventional or hegemonic international spaces such as UN conferences, to forge strategic alliances with other women transnationally, reflecting on the benefits and dangers of these acts of solidarity. I also examine some of the limitations imposed on the campaign, both by national and global political realities and by the strategies it uses to address the particularities of Iranian women's varied needs while deploying a universalist language of human rights. Finally, I reflect on what activists and scholars of transnational feminism can learn about our theories of transnational feminist solidarity in light of contemporary Iranian women's activism. By examining the benefits and risks of transnational practices by a nationally-focused Iranian women's campaign, my paper contributes to theorizing on transnationality, global feminisms, and Iranian/Diaspora Studies at a moment of increased international focus on the evolving political situation in Iran.
Discipline
Education
Geographic Area
Iran
Sub Area
None