Dislocating Cultures

Reviews the book “Dislocating Cultures by Uma Narayan which discusses the concept of the “colonialist stance” in feminist studies.

In “Dislocating Cultures”, Uma Narayan discusses the critique that exists in terms of “the colonialist stance” in feminist inquiry. She argues that one does not have to be a colonizer, nor a Western feminist, to perpetrate “the colonialist stance.” It is a question, instead, of an approach that “replicates problematic aspects of Western representations of Third World nations and communities, aspects that have their roots in the history of colonization.” In other words, Third World women who think that they are denouncing and repudiating “Westernization” are often actually perpetuating the colonization of themselves, as well as of all other women in their society.