Working Feminism

by Geraldine Pratt

Overview

Working Feminism looks at key concepts and debates within feminist theory and puts them to work concretely in relation to the real problems faced by Filipina domestic workers and Asian youth in Canada. It draws to the fore the metaphorical and concrete geographies that lie implicit and underdeveloped within much feminist theory and suggests that a geographical imagination offers a means of reframing debates beyond polarized theoretical and political positions. Alternating between theoretical and empirical chapters, substantial and wide-ranging discussions of human rights, multiculturalism, and feminist politics are brought down to earth and -- by putting them into the context of individual predicaments -- to life. The empirical chapters situate and describe a decade-long collaboration by an activist group -- the Philippine Women Centre -- and demonstrate the fruits of a close and innovative engagement between poststructuralist feminist theory and a participatory action project.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781592132645
Publisher:	Temple University Press
Publication date:	05/14/2004
Edition description:	1
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Geraldine Pratt is Professor of Geography at the University of British Columbia. She is author of Working Feminism and Families Apart: Migrant Mothers and the Conflicts of Labor and Love, co-author of Gender, Work and Space, and co-editor of The Global and the Intimate: Feminism in Our Time and the 4th and 5th editions of the Dictionary of Human Geography. She co-authored with Caleb Johnston Nanay: a testimonial play, which has been performed in Vancouver, Berlin and Manila.

Table of Contents

	List of Figures	vii
	Acknowledgements	ix
1	Putting Feminist Theory to Work	1
2	Spatialising the Subject of Feminism	12
3	From Registered Nurse to Registered Nanny	38
4	Liberalism, Univeralisms and Democratic Feminist Politics	71
5	Working at the Borders of Liberalism	93
6	Gleaning the Home	121
7	Trafficking across Borders	149
8	Song Flies Home	172
	References	195
	Index	214

Editorial Reviews

Provides rich detail and soul to the bald story told by labour market statistics… this book powerfully reinforces evidence of a global chain of exploitation… the book's energy and passion owe much to [Geraldine Pratt's] collaboration with an activist group, the Philippine Women's Center.

Cultural Geographies

A wonderful illustration of how to do good critical social science research in which significant theoretical and political debates are brought together and into productive tension through the lens of a concrete case study … I wholeheartedly recommend this book … It is an excellent contribution to a critical human geography committed to combating inequality and injustice.

Progress in Human Geography