
Theorizing NGOs
States, Feminisms, and Neoliberalism
Duke University Press
Published on 14. March 2014
Book
Paperback/Softback
392 pages
978-0-8223-5565-6 (ISBN)
Description
Theorizing NGOs examines how the rise of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) has transformed the conditions of women's lives and of feminist organizing. Victoria Bernal and Inderpal Grewal suggest that we can understand the proliferation of NGOs through a focus on the NGO as a unified form despite the enormous variation and diversity contained within that form. Theorizing NGOs brings together cutting-edge feminist research on NGOs from various perspectives and disciplines. Contributors locate NGOs within local and transnational configurations of power, interrogate the relationships of nongovernmental organizations to states and to privatization, and map the complex, ambiguous, and ultimately unstable synergies between feminisms and NGOs. While some of the contributors draw on personal experience with NGOs, others employ regional or national perspectives. Spanning a broad range of issues with which NGOs are engaged, from microcredit and domestic violence to democratization, this groundbreaking collection shows that NGOs are, themselves, fields of gendered struggles over power, resources, and status.
Contributors. Sonia E. Alvarez, Victoria Bernal, LeeRay M. Costa, Inderpal Grewal, Laura GrUEnberg, Elissa Helms, Julie Hemment, Saida Hodzic, Lamia Karim, Sabine Lang, Lauren Leve, Kathleen O'Reilly, Aradhana Sharma
Contributors. Sonia E. Alvarez, Victoria Bernal, LeeRay M. Costa, Inderpal Grewal, Laura GrUEnberg, Elissa Helms, Julie Hemment, Saida Hodzic, Lamia Karim, Sabine Lang, Lauren Leve, Kathleen O'Reilly, Aradhana Sharma
Reviews / Votes
"Theorizing NGOs offers timely and insightful perspectives on the intersection between NGOs, women's experiences of NGOs and feminism across the world. Bringing together scholarly writings on women's experiences with NGOs from different parts of the globe is definitely one of the highlights of the volume. . . . This volume is a must read for anyone interested in gender and development, and in the anthropology of the state." - Lipika Kamra (Social Anthropology) "In representing more than a decade of energetic discussion and debate, this collection provides fantastic evidence of the dynamism and creativity of feminist activism in all of its forms.... It is a welcome and valuable contribution." - Miranda Joseph (Women's Review of Books)More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
North Carolina
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
563 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8223-5565-6 (9780822355656)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
03/2014
1st Edition
Duke University Press Books
€218.99
Available for download
Persons
Victoria Bernal is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of Nation as Network: Diaspora, Cyberspace, and Citizenship and Cultivating Workers: Peasants and Capitalism in a Sudanese Village.
Inderpal Grewal is Chair of the Program in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Yale University. She is the author of Transnational America: Feminisms, Diasporas, Neoliberalisms and Home and Harem: Nation, Gender, Empire and Cultures of Travel, both also published by Duke University Press.
Inderpal Grewal is Chair of the Program in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Yale University. She is the author of Transnational America: Feminisms, Diasporas, Neoliberalisms and Home and Harem: Nation, Gender, Empire and Cultures of Travel, both also published by Duke University Press.
Content
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction. The NGO Form: Feminist Struggles, States, and Neoliberalism / Victoria Bernal and Inderpal Grewal 1
Part I. NGOs Beyond Success or Failure 19
1. The Movementization of NGOs? Women's Organizing in Postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina / Elissa Helms 21
2. Failed Development and Rural Revolution in Nepal: Rethinking Subaltern Consciousness and Women's Empowerment / Lauren Leve 50
3. The State and Women's Empowerment in India Paradoxes and Politics / Aradhana Sharma 93
Part II. Postcolonial Neoliberalisms and the NGO Form 115
4. Global Civil Society and the Local Costs of Belonging: Defining Violence against Women in Russia / Julie Hemment 119
5. Resolving a Gendered Paradox: Women's Participation and the NGO Boom in North India / Kathleen O'Reilly 143
6. Power and Difference in Thai Women's NGO Activism / LeeRay M. Costa 166
7. Demystifying Microcredit: The Grameen Bank, NGOs, and Neoliberalism in Bangladesh / Lamia Karim 193
Part III. Feminist Social Movements and NGOs 219
8. Feminist Bastards: Toward a Posthumanist Critique of NGOization / Saida Hodzic 221
9. Lived Feminism(s) in Postcommunist Romania / Laura GrUEnberg 248
10. Women's Advocacy Networks: The European Union, Women's NGOs, and the Velvet Triangle / Sabine Lange 266
11. Beyond NGOization? Relrections from Latin America / Sonia E. Alvarez 285
Conclusion. Feminisms and the NGO Form / Victoria Bernal and Inderpal Grewal 301
Bibliography 311
Contributors 353
Index 357
Introduction. The NGO Form: Feminist Struggles, States, and Neoliberalism / Victoria Bernal and Inderpal Grewal 1
Part I. NGOs Beyond Success or Failure 19
1. The Movementization of NGOs? Women's Organizing in Postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina / Elissa Helms 21
2. Failed Development and Rural Revolution in Nepal: Rethinking Subaltern Consciousness and Women's Empowerment / Lauren Leve 50
3. The State and Women's Empowerment in India Paradoxes and Politics / Aradhana Sharma 93
Part II. Postcolonial Neoliberalisms and the NGO Form 115
4. Global Civil Society and the Local Costs of Belonging: Defining Violence against Women in Russia / Julie Hemment 119
5. Resolving a Gendered Paradox: Women's Participation and the NGO Boom in North India / Kathleen O'Reilly 143
6. Power and Difference in Thai Women's NGO Activism / LeeRay M. Costa 166
7. Demystifying Microcredit: The Grameen Bank, NGOs, and Neoliberalism in Bangladesh / Lamia Karim 193
Part III. Feminist Social Movements and NGOs 219
8. Feminist Bastards: Toward a Posthumanist Critique of NGOization / Saida Hodzic 221
9. Lived Feminism(s) in Postcommunist Romania / Laura GrUEnberg 248
10. Women's Advocacy Networks: The European Union, Women's NGOs, and the Velvet Triangle / Sabine Lange 266
11. Beyond NGOization? Relrections from Latin America / Sonia E. Alvarez 285
Conclusion. Feminisms and the NGO Form / Victoria Bernal and Inderpal Grewal 301
Bibliography 311
Contributors 353
Index 357