"Muslim" Women and "Western" Feminists: The Debate on Particulars and Universals

Abstract

In the last two decades, a host of theoretical positions—cultural relativism, identity politics, postmodernism—have emphasized the differences that divide human beings and cultures. For these particularist theories, commonality, solidarity, and internationalism represent "grand narratives," "universalism," "totalization," or "essentialism," all of which are, it seems, inherently oppressive, Eurocentric, and imperialist. Politically, these types of particularism imply either passivism or fragmented and localized micro-initiatives.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

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