Émigré feminism : transnational perspectives

I welcome this edited volume by Alena Heitlinger, an outcome of a conference on Emigre Feminism, held at the University of Trent in 1996. It is an invaluable effort of a Canadian emigre feminist to make a unique and salutary contribution to the feminist discourses in this country. The volume is particularly valuable because it brings together under one cover feminist views of emigres from many parts of the world, including countries which were part of the former Soviet Union. The volume demonstrates clearly the editor's own feminist sensibility and sophisticated understanding of both the difficulties and the advantages of emigre feminist positions, life experiences and perspectives. This volume illuminates the ambivalent (or should I say multi-valent?) interpretations by emigre feminists of the present national and international hegemonic feminism, of the well-funded, anglophone and liberal tradition, which is oblivious of what it cannot access because of its cultural limitations. The collection consists of an excellent introduction by the editor and 13 chapters written by emigre feminists from Africa, Australia, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America and the Near East. In no way can this brief review do justice to the richness and complexity of the ideas and experiences presented in this volume. The core of notion of "emigre," as defined here, is the exposure to and life experience of contrasting cultures and socio-political environments. Placed on a broad continuum, it starts with those forced to emigrate by oppressive political regimes or voluntary escapes from equally oppressive patriarchal norms, to Canadian feminists working abroad in "aid" agencies, to post-emigres (those who have adopted Canada as their country of residence and action). This includes a number of persons, who as result of juxtaposing and reflecting on the "there" and "here" create a variety of new syntheses, meanings and interpretations of feminism and develop a greater sensitivity to the varied and nuanced meaning of this term. The great majority of the authors in this volume are academic social scientists, studying, teaching and doing research in Canadian Women's Studies programs. They bring to the volume rich feminist insights from the perspectives of their various fields (anthropology, education, history, literature, political science, sociology, fiction writing and activism). The chapters vary in form and content. Many use auto-biographical information to provide a background for their particular perspectives and to situate the specific points of their feminist visions and argumentations. They also describe the adaptations used by women when facing Canadian culture and society. Some entries show the creative ways women's varied backgrounds assisted them in establishing their lives and views of feminism, as well as the coping and transformative strategies employed in their new lives in Canada. Other chapters are written on more abstract, theoretical levels and address issues of feminist theory and epistemology. …