Transnationalism and the Evolution of Post-National Citizenship in Japan

This article argues that transnational activism has been an important factor in both the evolution of Japanese civil society and the identity formation of civil society actors over the past half century. It reconsiders the Japanese experience in light of recent theorisations on deterritorialised and transnational citizenships which challenge the monopoly of the national state in defining civic identity by proposing novel alternatives based on cross-border affiliations among non-state actors. Different from existing endogenous and institutional explanations of the emergence and development of civil society in Japan, the article highlights the transformative impact of activists’ transnational activities. Until around the late 1960s Japanese activists tended to imagine their situation within a framework of victimised citizens versus a pernicious alliance of the state and industry. The state and corporations were the aggressors and citizens were always the victims. But transnational engagements in the anti-Vietnam War and environmental movements disrupted such assumptions, forcing activists to rethink their victimisation status and consider their complicity in the actions of the Japanese state and industry abroad. The result was an enriched and more broad-minded conceptualisation of post-national citizenship in which victim consciousness was tempered by a concern for those beyond the borders of Japan. This transnational sensitivity in turn contributed to the maturation of Japanese civil society.     

Spatial Displacements: Transnationalism and the new social movements

This paper looks at connections between transnationalism and the new social movements in the USA. Drawing on feminist and 'queer theory' critiques of totalising 'lesbian-feminist' and 'radical feminist' arguments, as well as on the neo-Marxist analyses of transnationalism, I argue that it is possible to theorise transnational 'flexible accumulation' in terms of gender, race and sexuality as well as class. I analyse David Harvey's argument about the role of the 'spatial fix' and 'temporal fix' in post-modernity. I compare Harvey's approach to the analysis of post-modernity with Mike Davis's more local/global analytic. I contrast their approaches with the ways that the notion of displacement can be applied to the deconstructive reading of narrative and representational texts. I conclude with an analysis of the way transnationalism is displaced, as multiplanetary capitalism, in C.J. Cherryh's science fiction. Cherryh links the construction of spatialities to ways of constructing gender, species, and sexualities, as well as to changes in the mode of production. Her heroines, too, as translators, knowledge brokers and political intriguers, are centrally involved in the crisis of accumulation in the novels' fictive universe. In this way, Cherryh's fictions, and her heroines' actions, produce an implicit theorisation of accumulation, based on gender, and sexuality, as well as class.     

The Problematization of Feminisms and Feminist Informed Theologies in the Twenty-first Century

Abstract

Feminisms are a feature of life in the twenty-first century. They are sometimes considered to be groundbreaking, sometimes unremarkable and sometimes dangerous, but whatever the perspective taken on the value or effectiveness of feminisms there is a persistence in their varied and often troubled presence. Such an influence and critical presence has been affected through a variety of encounters in which feminist informed perspectives and criteria have been employed as the basis of critical and transformative engagement. Since the 1960s the creative encountering of feminisms has significantly influenced the shape of contemporary theological engagement. Today feminisms and feminist informed theologies stand at a crossroad of critical interrogation and deconstruction as questions about their effectiveness, validity and indeed integrity are being raised with persistent force. This paper explores some of the problems facing feminisms and feminist informed theologies and asks of their effectiveness and future as ongoing powerful religious and political forces.     

Transnationalism and identity: a tale of two faces and multiple lives

Transnational ties add new complexities to the continuous and dynamic processes of identity formation. Based on self‐reflexive narratives, this paper examines the authors' identity transformations associated with their respective transnational experiences. We are two Asian women from India and China, respectively, who are international students pursuing doctoral degrees in Canada. Although we share similar demographic and economic backgrounds, we perform distinct transnational acts. Focusing specifically on social and cultural linkages, we have identified reasons that have influenced our cross‐border involvements. Based on our findings, we present an emergent conceptual framework that highlights interactive psychological, sociocultural and economic processes that influence the formation of individual transnational identities. We also share with our readers some methodological lessons learnt along our path of self‐expression, analysis and representation .     

Hatching Feminisms: Czech Feminist Aspirations in the 1990s

This article explores a range of conversations in Czech that have been undertaken by popular and intellectual Czech feminists since 1989. These have attempted to ‘explain the usefulness of feminist thinking’ to frequently reticent Czech audiences. It examines feminists' claim that feminism and feminist social criticism have an important role to play in making a new social order in which what they describe as women's values and cultures would have a central place. It explores the often maternalist strategies that intellectuals have devised for working through the pall of ambivalence that surrounds feminism in the Czech Republic, and it examines how an enthusiastic defence of local feminisms and the desire to highlight intransigent attitudes towards the remaking of gender identities have become important hallmarks of contemporary Czech feminisms.     

跨国主义的移民研究——欧美学者的观点和贡献

在已有研究的基础上,从跨国移民的政治选择、跨国移民的经济贡献、跨国移民的文化再造、跨国移民的活动领域、回归移民的再适应、跨国主义移民研究等多方面介绍和评述了欧美学界跨国主义移民研究的主要观点、基本内容和特征以及学术贡献,并对跨国移民研究中需要进一步探讨的问题进行了梳理.