Most recent commentators on cultural geography

recognize the significant impact of feminist

theory (Baldwin et al., 1999; Crang, 1998;

Jackson, 1989; Mitchell, 2000). This is reflected

both in the subject of inquiry and in the theoreti-

cal underpinnings of cultural geography. Concerns

with the cultural politics of gender, identity, sex

and sexuality at a variety of different scales

(from body to nation) and in a variety of differ-

ent spaces (homes, communities, cities and

imaginative spaces) point toward a reinvigorated

and politically relevant cultural geography.

Against this backdrop, this chapter explores the

implications of recent debates and developments

within international feminism for cultural geo-

graphy. At an abstract level, assumptions by

western feminists about what their political pro-

ject entails have been called into question by a

range of criticisms concerned with dislocating

western centrism. Encounters with different fem-

inisms and different gender relations have raised

issues about what exactly it means to be feminist

and have ensured that a western-centric political

vision is no longer desirable. Criticism of white

western feminism from commentators from both

north and south^1 has been significant in breaking

down western centrism and has major implica-

tions for what feminist cultural geographies

might look like, both in the west and in ‘other’

places.

In what follows, I review the major debates

between ‘western’ and ‘other’ feminisms, tracing

the emergence of a powerful body of criticism

from the south and, more recently, from post-

communist countries. Of particular significance

are the moves towards cultural explanations

within feminism, how these have often been

inspired by and related to the challenges posed

by anti-western-centric approaches, and the

debates arising from these developments.

Critiques of western feminism have exposed its

previously unacknowledged ethnocentrism by

focusing on discourse and representation,

exploring the ways in which culturally located

western feminisms perpetuate entrenched power

relations and the ‘othering’ of non-western

women and non-western modes of thought.

Having first outlined the major points of these cri-

tiques, in the subsequent sections of the chapter I

explore the impacts of the debates inspired by

them on feminist theory, on the possibilities of

formulating an international feminist agenda,

and finally on feminist cultural geographies. I

trace the beginnings of attempts to dislocate the

western centrism of cultural geography, explore

some of the differences this has made to rethink-

ing specifically feminist geographical issues, and

also reflect on how cultural geographies might

contribute to these feminist debates. I make some

suggestions for new areas of research arising

from, through and beyond the dilemmas raised

by these debates, which challenge some of the

assumptions at the heart of western-based femi-

nist cultural geographies. Finally, I map out the

most pressing issues that future feminisms have

to contend with, and how these might inform

cultural geographies.

THE TURN TOWARDS CULTURE:

FEMINISMS AND RESPONSES FROM

BEYOND THE WEST

Western feminisms are largely engaged in cri-

tiquing the Enlightenment and its offshoots in

modernity. These theoretical contestations have

21

The West and Other Feminisms

Cheryl McEwan

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