The problems with feminist nostalgia: Intersectionality and white popular feminism

“We finish with a concluding discussion, cautioning against white feminist nostalgia, which we argue can serve to undermine the radical possibilities of intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1990; Collins and Bilge, 2016).”

“Feminist scholars have instead focused on ‘storytelling’ (Hemmings, 2011; Wånggren, 2016), examining shared experiences, memories and histories, without, necessarily, invoking nostalgia (Ahmed, 2004; Polletta, 2009; Scott, 2011), a task which this article is concerned with.”

“Drawing in particular upon the work of Svetlana Boym (2001, 2007), this article proposes a new framework for thinking through different dimensions to feminist nostalgia, specifically concerning a loss of radicalism and sisterhood.1 We situate this current ‘wave’ of feminist nostalgia for radicalism and sisterhood, as…”

“Nostalgia is a social emotion grounded in the politics of timekeeping; one which, while looking backwards, is rooted in, and produced by, fears and anxieties in the present (Davis, 1979).”

“Following Banet-Weiser (2018), we define popular feminism as that which is produced and circulated via popular and mainstream sources, translating into ‘accepted’ feminist discourse.”

“The current wave of feminist nostalgia expressed in UK white popular feminism is, we argue, partially produced by the twin crises of neoliberalism and populism and more specifically, the subsequent spawning of both neoliberal feminism and femonationalism.2 Catherine Rottenberg (2014) conceptualises neoliberal feminism…”

“…for marginalised women (Bassel and Emejulu, 2017); the problematic promotion of market-based solutions for social and political problems (Fraser, 2013); the integration and normalisation of consumerism as aspirational feminism (Rottenberg, 2014); and its damaging implications for…”

“…and revived old threats, including the use of gender equality and women’s rights to advance anti-Islam agendas (Farris, 2017; Lépinard, 2020); attacks on women’s reproductive rights (Franklin and Ginsburg, 2019); and the demonization of refugee women (Korolczuk and Graff, 2018; Schuster, 2020).”

“…and Emejulu, 2017); the problematic promotion of market-based solutions for social and political problems (Fraser, 2013); the integration and normalisation of consumerism as aspirational feminism (Rottenberg, 2014); and its damaging implications for radical intellectual critique (Mohanty, 2013).”

“Feminist scholars have instead focused on ‘storytelling’ (Hemmings, 2011; Wånggren, 2016), examining shared experiences, memories and histories, without, necessarily, invoking nostalgia (Ahmed, 2004; Polletta, 2009; Scott, 2011), a task which this article is concerned with.”

“Feminism is relatively high profile in the United Kingdom, and there has been a sustained period of feminist activism since 2010 (Chamberlain, 2017; Bassel and Emejulu, 2017; Evans, 2015; Phipps, 2020), as such, there is a well-established number of feminist journalists and commentators producing…”

“Writing in the late 1980s, Bryan Turner (1987) identified the multi-faceted nature of the concept, which intimates historical decline, the absence of moral certainty, the disappearance of genuine social relationships and a weakening of personal authenticity.”

“Although Eichhorn identities many feminist theorists working on temporality and the past distancing themselves from nostalgia, including but not limited to Hesford (2013), Freeman (2010) and Hemmings (2011), she offers up an ambiguous possibility for the affect.”

“Feminist scholars have instead focused on ‘storytelling’ (Hemmings, 2011; Wånggren, 2016), examining shared experiences, memories and histories, without, necessarily, invoking nostalgia (Ahmed, 2004; Polletta, 2009; Scott, 2011), a task which this article is concerned with.”

“Certainly, feminism has been historically positioned as somehow above the inequalities and exclusionary norms of wider society, yet this particular moment has ushered in a politics reflective of societal divisions and exclusions (Ahmed, 2016).”

“However, feminist scholars have hitherto been reluctant to engage with the idea of nostalgia, unsurprising perhaps given its implicitly pejorative nature (Bonnett, 2009); indeed, Kate Eichhorn (2015) describes nostalgia as ‘taboo’, a ‘feeling that dare not speak its name’.”

“These dialogues are, on one level, an exercise in history and memory, one undertaken by activists across social movements (Kubal and Becerra, 2014).”

“For feminists, such a dialogue can challenge, disrupt and/or sustain contemporary praxis (Hemmings, 2011), with the past sometimes invoked to reject or repudiate the present (Funk, 2013) and vice versa (Henry, 2004).”

“…and revived old threats, including the use of gender equality and women’s rights to advance anti-Islam agendas (Farris, 2017; Lépinard, 2020); attacks on women’s reproductive rights (Franklin and Ginsburg, 2019); and the demonization of refugee women (Korolczuk and Graff, 2018; Schuster, 2020).”

“Feminist scholars have instead focused on ‘storytelling’ (Hemmings, 2011; Wånggren, 2016), examining shared experiences, memories and histories, without, necessarily, invoking nostalgia (Ahmed, 2004; Polletta, 2009; Scott, 2011), a task which this article is concerned with.”

“We use the term radical here not in relation to ‘R’adical feminism, but rather as a descriptor to denote an ‘alternative view of the world’, radical politics identifies the problem but effectively changes the way in which society is structured (Pugh, 2009).”

“However, feminist scholars have hitherto been reluctant to engage with the idea of nostalgia, unsurprising perhaps given its implicitly pejorative nature (Bonnett, 2009); indeed, Kate Eichhorn (2015) describes nostalgia as ‘taboo’, a ‘feeling that dare not speak its name’.”

“…new challenges and revived old threats, including the use of gender equality and women’s rights to advance anti-Islam agendas (Farris, 2017; Lépinard, 2020); attacks on women’s reproductive rights (Franklin and Ginsburg, 2019); and the demonization of refugee women (Korolczuk and Graff,…”

“…high profile in the United Kingdom, and there has been a sustained period of feminist activism since 2010 (Chamberlain, 2017; Bassel and Emejulu, 2017; Evans, 2015; Phipps, 2020), as such, there is a well-established number of feminist journalists and commentators producing popular feminism.”

“…and revived old threats, including the use of gender equality and women’s rights to advance anti-Islam agendas (Farris, 2017; Lépinard, 2020); attacks on women’s reproductive rights (Franklin and Ginsburg, 2019); and the demonization of refugee women (Korolczuk and Graff, 2018; Schuster, 2020).”

“…us to take seriously the capacity of feminist attachments to the past to function as rich affective resources for our present and imagined future’ (Meagher and Runyon, 2009: 344); they describe nostalgia as ‘a turn to the past to locate resources for identity, agency or community, all of…”

“Moreover, denying emotions such as anger contributes to the reproduction of oppressive dynamics (Quéré, 2020), and particular emotions—such as nostalgia from white feminists— inhibit the adoption of intersectional practices (Evans & Bussey-Chamberlain, 2021).”

“Evans and Bussey-Chamberlain (2021) describe a “wave” of White feminist activism that draws on nostalgia for earlier feminist movements to make the case that current feminist politics, particularly online engagement with feminism through hashtag activism, fail to live up to feminism’s radical past.”

“Acts of disidentification often rely on a portrayal of the ‘other’ wave as having a single, coherent, almost caricatural identity: the second wave as prudish and exclusionary, the third wave as narcissistic and consumerist (Evans & Bussey-Chamberlain, 2021; Hogeland, 2001; Mackay, 2015).”

“…from the use of intersectionality by white feminists in contexts different from the original one (Calderaro & Lépinard, 2021; Davis, 2019; Davis & Zarkov, 2017; Evans & Bussey-Chamberlain, 2021; Salem, 2016), we still considered its use appropriate in our context and so we relied on this concept.”

“…in Black feminist political activism (Hooks, 1981), is a line of resistance against the Euro/American-centric bias of the White liberal feminism agenda, challenging its inherited racism, colonialism, and capitalism while opening space for the Other s excluded (Evans & Bussey-Chamberlain, 2021.”

“Speci fi cally, some identify within ‘ white popular feminism ’ a ‘ nostalgia for the idea of “ sisterhood ”— a time before white feminists were called upon to engage with intersec-tionality or to include trans-women ’ (Evans and Bussey-Chamberlain, 2021: 355).”

“Furthermore, concurrent with the characters’ unruly choral voice, Yellowjackets ’ feminist nostalgia is markedly more intersectional than described by Evans and Bussey-Chamberlain (2021).”

“While initial campaigns mirrored collective solidarity, digital feminism has somehow become too individualistic; some claim that the unity and sisterhood among feminists in the past are lost in the cause (Evans & Bussey-Chamberlain, 2021).”