La fem ir shell

AT Class-blind

Capitalism is the wrong argument – feminism itself is a vehicle by which we can uncover classist inequality that would otherwise remain invisible – this is even apparent in the recent history of Latin American feminist literature

Mesquita Samara (Latin American Women’s Historian) 94, Eni de, “Feminism, Social Justice and Citizenship in Latin America”, Journal of Women's History, Volume 6, Number 2, Summer 1994, pp. 135-143 (Article)

Female participation in the job market is a central theme of the books under review. Maler and Hahner describe the changes in women's eco- nomic activities over time. By 1870 in Brazü, higher education for women was seen as a way to enable them to enter prestigious professions. After the turn of the twentieth century, feminists' conception of female emancipation was strongly attached to work. Bertha Lutz, an important Brazilian activist, believed that the emancipation of women depended on access to paid work. She also saw "woman suffrage as a recognition of women's worth and as a means of ensuring women's future material and moral welfare" (Müler, p. 85). By this time, many women were working outside the home, in industry, commerce, teaching, and many other occupations. Between 1850 and 1920, as Hahner points out, technological advance and the growth of rities opened new opportunities and challenges to Brazilian women. In addition, Latin American feminist movements, like their European and North American counterparts, now emphasized issues of importance to working women.11 The first decades of the twentieth century saw important advances toward fuU rights of dtizenship. In 1929, Ecuador became the first nation in Latin America to grant woman suffrage; Paraguay was the last one in 1961. Uruguay was, in theory, the first nation in the western hemisphere to recognize female suffrage by the 1917 constitution. However, the prin- dple of women suffrage required a two-thirds majority in each of the legislative houses to become law.12 In other countries partial suffrage was enacted. In Peru, the 1933 constitution permitted women to vote in local elections but retained the definition of "citizen" to mean propertied males (Müler, p. 97, 98, 99). In 1934, Cuba became the fourth Latin American country to extend the franchise to women. As Stoner points out, the struggle for woman suffrage was part of a general defense of democracy against authoritarian presidential regimes. "Unlike divorce and property laws," she writes, "suffrage was passed because feminists made it a cause and a national symbol" (Stoner, p. 126). Despite the importance and visibility of the suffrage movements, their support was largely Umited to a minority of urban upper- and middle- class women. Hahner states that, although some BrazUian feminists of the 1920s and 1930s addressed problems of concern to working class women, such as long hours, low wages, and miserable working conditions, inter- dass Unkages proved difficult. The same problem stiU exists today; Brazil- ian feminists still face the difficult challenge of confronting the inequalities of class and gender simultaneously. As Hahner remarks, beneficial changes always seem to come more slowly to poor women than to better- off women or to men of any class (Hahner, pp. 120-207). The books reviewed here thus provide an overview both of the poUt- ical and economic fadors that have shaped women's movements in each country and of Latin American feminists' struggle to construd a theory and practice of feminism appropriate to their reaUties and not simply copied from other countries. AU three books show the importance of the exchange of experiences and ideas, esperiauy through the international conferences that played such a prominent role in the history of feminist movements. Such international organizations supported women's strug- gles on the national level and gave women an opportunity to discuss common problems and strategies.

AT Anthro

Aff Answers

Perm

Permute – use the plan as a way to interrogate the patriarchal frame of society and encourage new pedagogies

The perm is net better because it refuses an essentialist view of both feminism and the patriarchal frame at large -

Dualism is anathema to liberation and is a straight line to nihilism – the desire for binarism is oppressive and terminates solvency

Alcoff (Premier feminist philosopher and political activist) 4, Linda Martin, “Schutte's Nietzschean Postcolonial Politics”, Hypatia, Volume 19, Number 3, Summer 2004, pp. 144-156 (Article)

Beyond Nihilism is not focused primarily or exclusively on political questions, but provides an overall interpretation and critique of Nietzsche’s philosophy. Schutte is sympathetic to Nietzsche’s approach in the areas of metaphysics, epistemology, and metaphilosophy, and very supportive of his critiques of reli- gion and metaphysics—critiques that have clearly infl uenced all of Schutte’s philosophical work, in which her articulation of criteria for a liberatory phi- losophy opposes all dualist social ontologies and repudiates the possibility of theoretical closure. Schutte emphasizes Nietzsche’s aim to overcome dualism, and she interprets nihilism as a product of the dualist construction of good and evil. The notion of the absolute good is entwined with the notion of an absolute authority, one who has the absolute right to punish, and it is a mistake to think that nihilism simply results from the loss of belief in such a fi gure. In actuality, nihilism results from the value system and psychological condition that desires such a fi gure in the fi rst place. Schutte thus interprets Nietzsche’s project of over- coming nihilism as the project of overcoming the integrated system of dualism and authoritarianism. In this way, Schutte can also put Nietzsche to the service of the project of overcoming patriarchy, which sets up an unchallengeable rule of the father, and put Dionysus to the service of the project of feminism, as an attempt to heal dualism, embrace corporeality, and affi rm life. But ultimately Schutte is also critical of the political content and implica- tions in Nietzsche’s work (see esp. Chapter Seven). She argues that his aim to eradicate the dualism in Western metaphysics and morality and his aim to institute a reversal of values are actually in contradiction, since the project of the reversal of values is implicated in dualism. Moreover, she argues that the radical potential of his Dionysianism, which aims at the deconstruction of cat- egory distinctions and borders of all types, is contradicted by his naturalization of the ranking of human beings. Ultimately, Schutte argues persuasively that the political implications of Nietzsche’s metaphysical critique are incoherent: on the one hand the critique of transcendentalism works against authoritarianism of all kinds, but on the other hand his naturalist account of hierarchies among human beings, his “endorse- ment of an order of rank,” works to replicate the metaphysical orientation and ethical values that he rejects:

Reductionist

The kritik is reductionist and insulting to women – the Latin American matriarch is not a monolithic figure subject to our arbitrary classification and assistance

Mesquita Samara (Latin American Women’s Historian) 94, Eni de, “Feminism, Social Justice and Citizenship in Latin America”, Journal of Women's History, Volume 6, Number 2, Summer 1994, pp. 135-143 (Article)

Although the general field of women's history has produced a vast and diverse body of literature, studies of Latin America, especially those that consider gender relations in the context of social and cultural devel- opment, continue to be rare. As Elizabeth Kusnesof has pointed out, many recent studies suffer from a tendency "to separate women's experience from that of society as a whole, rather than seeing women's legal position, employment, and life chances within the context of social life in general and within the context of class and race relations and a specific historical time and place in PaTUCuIaT."1 Nonetheless, recent publications and research on the history of women in Latin America have raised fundamental questions. Until recently, stereotyped conceptions of the patriarchal family and the seclu- sion of women were taken as representative of Latin America as a whole, regardless of culture and social class. These stereotypes, reinforced by the historiography of the 1950s, had a certain value for the study of the feminine condition. However, Alida Metcalf shows that the research of historians, sociologists, and anthropologists point to another view—that the passive, protected and isolated female suggested by stereotypes of Latin women did not exist.2 In fact, as Muriel Nazzari also points out, Latin women, having equal access to inheritance and family patrimony by the Portuguese law, had more rights than their Anglo-Saxon sisters of the same period.3 Reports of conditions in the Iberian colonies indicate that in some cases women were more powerful than men.4 Stereotyped images of the idle, white upper-class woman, lying in a hammock and screaming at her slaves, must give way to more diverse stories of other women who formerly had no history.5 Accounts of widows who honored the memory of their husbands, of embroidery, sweets, talks with the slaves, the "cafune," and Sunday churchgoing must now be set beside stories of working- class women who were mediators and intermediaries in commercial and business activities. There is dear evidence that, whüe a representative portion of the female eUte Uved their daüy Uves in seclusion and were given to sloth, a more energetic type of woman, capable of acting as the head of a household and a business enterprise, also emerged.6 The three books under review attempt to gain a better understanding of women's lives by analyzing changes in their legal and sodal status over time. These books show that many women were involved in the struggle for social justice and citizenship. Francesca MiUer chaUenges conventional stereotypes by emphasizing the diversity of women's historical experi- ence. An important aim of MiUer's book is "to see changes over time, whüe remaining aware of the nuances of individuaUty" (p. xiv). Diversity and continuity are also central themes of June Hahner and K. Lynn Stoner. Both authors, whüe emphasizing types of feminism that were distinctive to Brazü and Cuba, also explore the main links among the women's move- ment in various Latin American countries and the North American influ- ence.

Cap/Blackness Link

Gender cannot be separated from questions of class and race – subjugation is essentially tripartite, not monolithic – the K leaves behind those women who have no history

Mesquita Samara (Latin American Women’s Historian) 94, Eni de, “Feminism, Social Justice and Citizenship in Latin America”, Journal of Women's History, Volume 6, Number 2, Summer 1994, pp. 135-143 (Article)

MUler constructs a general picture of feminist movements based on individual stories of women in different countries and sodal classes. "In examining the history of feminism in Latin America," she writes, "we have seen that women have been most successful in putting forth their pro- grams during periods of general political reform and change: in Uruguay during the Battle reforms, in Cuba during the Machadato 1920-1934,8 in Brazü at the faU of the Old Republic in 1932, in Guatemala and Venezuela in the mid-1940s" (Müler, p. 187). In many countries, to be sure, women's participation in programs of sodal reform for aU people served to perpet- uate traditional patterns of male leadership. Even among revolutionary

groups fighting for radical change, women were relegated to subordinate positions. Nonethdess, many feminist groups could express themselves and struggle for their rights when male-dominated poUtical parties chose to use women's issues to their advantage. Other female activists expressed a concern for women's issues that was motivated less by feminist convic- tion than by poUtical opportunism. In Argentina, Eva Peron worked inde- fatigably to recreate herself as the symbotic embodiment of the Argentine working-class male and female. This populist effort resulted in improved living conditions and access to political culture for women. Peron addressed large numbers of women "who cared little about women's rights and were indifferent to the concerns of upper and middle-class feminists" (Müler, p. 123). This statement raises another important question: the relationship of gender to race and class as aspects of identity. Without doubt, many activists who advocated women's causes and rights were educated and wealthy upper-class women, who spoke as individuals. Because of their social status and family background, they had economic support for the publication of newspapers and books and were exposed to political dis- course on the national and international levels. During the first half of the nineteenth century, the life and writings of Nisia Floresta provide an example. Born in Rio Grande do SuI in 1810, Horesta was encouraged by her famüy to study with the tutors provided for her brothers in their home. In 1832, her family subsidized the publication of her translation into Portuguese of Mary WoUstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women. Even after she married, she continued her career as a writer and published articles on the education of women. MUler points out that during this period many women established private seminaries for young women that bore fruit in the next generation. In Brazü as in Mexico, reformers called not only for higher education for women but for the estabUshment of primary schools (Miller, p. 42). Access to university education for Latin American women came first in Qtile. There in April 11,1881, Eloisa Diaz Inzunza received her bachelor's degree in philosophy and humanities. Six years later, in 1887, President Balmaceda conferred upon her a degree in surgery, commending her as the first Chilean woman to obtain a professional title (Müler, p. 48). At this time many other institutions opened their doors to women. In BrazU, the right to university education was conferred by the educational reform law of 1879 (Hahner, p. 42). In Cuba, reformers in the early twentieth century attempted to create support for democratic institutions by educating the populace for citizen- ship. They caUed for the separation of church and state, a secularized educational system, and the training of young patriots in rational and

sdentific thought. According to Stoner, feminists also criticized CathoUc curricula and advocated secular pubhc education in order to prepare women for fives of work and pubUc service. Maria Luisa DoIz was the first Cuban feminist to link educational reform to nationalism and feminism. DoIz expanded her influence through public lectures, articles, and pam- phlets. As educators and mothers, she asserted, women would become fiül dtizens. However, such an education was not accessible to all women; Dolz's school served a minority of wealthy families. "Mother national- ists," remarks Stoner, "replaced Mother Church as guardians of Cuba's moraUty and the teachers of the young" (Stoner, pp. 34-35). Müler also emphasizes the importance of schoolteachers. This first generation of educated middle-class women "formed the nucleus of the first women's groups to articulate what may be defined as a feminine critique of sodety, that is, to protest against the pervasive inequality of the sexes in legal status, access to education, and political and economic power" (Müler, p. 71). Since colonial times, lower dass women, enslaved or free, black, of mixed blood, or white, have worked and fought for economic survival. Their history may be reconstructed through their daily activities and then- many informal roles, which often involved them in conflid, confrontation, and resistance.9 The study of the improvised and informal roles of urban women throughout Latin America has forced scholars to assess the patri- archal system and its division of tasks and responsibilities. These "women without history," whose memory may be recovered through manuscripts and contemporary accounts, frequently penetrated what by the conven- tions supposedly governing male and female behavior were considered masculine spaces. Women who were not involved in movements for social reform nonetheless often protested the conditions of their individual Uves. The resistance of slaves to owners, of wives to husbands, and of daughters to fathers may be seen as forms of protest against women's legal subordi- nation. As concubines and mothers of illegitimate children, women con- fronted the Church and the dvil authorities. Women smallholders selling their surpluses in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1822 refused to pay sales tax, aUeging that the produce that they sold had been raised for subsis- tence. As heads of households and small businesses, women developed alternative family arrangements and flexible sodal roles that enabled them to survive. These examples remind us of the discrepandes between dom- inant discourse and social practice.10