Intended to provide a conceptual and practical foundation for feminist movement building, this dictionary was written in response to a perceived “crisis of discourse”; terms like ‘empowerment’ have been co-opted by more powerful groups, such as the World Bank, causing them to lose their original meaning. Just Associates created this dictionary for feminist activists and movement-builders to generate and claim their own definitions.
The contents of this dictionary reflect the various vantage points, intersecting identities, values, and experiences of its writers and contributors. It also draws on the expertise and experience of JASS’ community of feminist popular educators, scholars, and activists from 27 countries in Mesoamerica, Southeast Asia, and Southern Africa.
The dictionary is organised into the following sections:
• Feminism(s)—social and political theories and concepts
• Identity and difference—the building blocks of who we are
• Power and knowledge—power analysis and feminist knowledge production
• The State—the institutions and practice of citizenship, democracy, and governance
• The Economy—deconstructing the current economic world order
• Feminist Movement Building—organising and leadership for a more just and equal world
It begins by defining ‘feminist movement-building’ as different from ‘building feminist movements’. The latter is a process that mobilises women, women’s organisations and allies for specific gender equality outcomes (eradicating violence against women, expanding equality of access to citizenship, etc,). Feminist movement building, on the other hand, attempts to bring feminist analysis and gender-equality perspectives into other agendas and movements (environment, peace, human rights, etc); and can involve building movements among women from different movements or agendas.
This first English language edition of JASS’ Feminist Dictionary was developed by Alda Facio, Lisa VeneKlasen, Valerie Miller, Srilatha Batliwala, Annie Holmes, Molly Reilly, Alia Khan, Maggie Mapondera, Natalia Escruceria, and Anna Davies-van Es. The idea for this dictionary originated with JASS Mesoamerica; Alda Facio wrote the first version, ‘Diccionario feminista’, in Spanish.
Additional information:
This resource is also available in Spanish: http://www.justassociates.org/en/resources/diccionario-de-transgresion-feminista
To contribute to the development of this dictionary (new words, clearer definitions, etc.) e-mail:
jass.dictionary@gmail.com