Uma Narayan: Third World Feminism & Westernization Critique

Contesting Cultures: Westernization (Uma Narayan)

Defining Third World Feminism

• A "Third World feminist" refers to anyone who has acquired feminist views and engages in feminist politics in Third World countries.
• It can also refer to any feminist concerned with Third World issues.
• Some feminists from communities of color identify themselves as Third World feminists.
• The author, Uma Narayan, identifies herself as one, as she is an Indian woman living in the US.
• Feminist ideals endorsed by Third World feminists are not necessarily adopted from Western cultures.

About the Author

Uma Narayan is a feminist scholar and professor of philosophy at Vassar College. She analyzes the relationship between Third World feminism and the West, defending it against the charge that feminist ideals are anti-national.

Traditional Oppression

• Feminists in the Third World are often silenced when they speak, usually by family members and intellectuals who believe their ideas are merely mimicking the West.
• Narayan argues their feminism is not the West's feminism, but rather homegrown within the Third World.
• Her mother's experiences with gender oppression influenced her views. Mothers often raise daughters contradictorily: teaching them life is tough, yet ostracizing them if they deviate from the status quo.

Mothers and Cultures

• Dominant cultural narratives establish gender hierarchies, where silence often signifies being a "good wife".
• Cultures may assume daughters adopt "Westernized" ideas, but Narayan suggests it's often a natural result of increased access to education and freedom over generations.
• Mothers transmit tradition, sometimes unaware of the inherent contradictions they present to their daughters.
• For example, education might be encouraged, while simultaneously expecting adherence to traditional duties and male dominance.

Critique of "Westernization"

• The concept of 'cultural identity' initially emerged as a reaction against colonization.
• Feminist perspectives are not inherently "foreign" to the national contexts of Third World countries.
• Third World nations often engage economically and politically with the West but resist adopting Western ideas concerning women's sexuality or their social, political, and economic voices.
• This represents a selective adoption of Western ideology and technology, termed Selective Labeling.

Conclusion

• We must view national and cultural contexts as dynamic, not sealed entities, and be cautious about notions of cultural authenticity that resist criticism and change.
• While ideas of national identity and cultural authenticity exist globally, Narayan examines them through the lens of feminist political struggles within both Western and Third World contexts.
• Educated women in the Third World must assert that education does not alienate them from their culture; rather, divisions often stem from ethnic and political differences, not just feminist views.