Professorship of the Cluster of Excellence – Gender/Postcolonial Studies

Junior Prof. Dr. Nikita Dhawan

The Chair of Gender/Postcolonial Studies, in which the Frankfurt Research Center for Postcolonial Studies (FRCPS) is anchored as a research program, has identified four focal points:

1. “Race”, class, gender, sexuality and post/colonialism
2. Postcolonial diasporas and transnationalism
3. Globalization and post-development studies and
4. Decolonization, democratization and gender justice.

Between 2008 and 2012, five research areas were located within these focal points, which were carried out as part of the research project “Negotiating Normativity: Feminist-Postcolonial Interventions (Frankfurt Research Center for Postcolonial Studies – FRCPS)“.
The aim of the research project was to examine the significance of norms that were formed under the conditions of colonialism for the current constitution of a world politics that is itself permanently confronted with the legacy of colonialism. The interlinked sub-projects shed light on both the historical context of the emergence of norms and their current negotiations in a post-colonial world. The focus was on the ambivalent function of norms: Although norms are indispensable as guiding principles for the subjective shaping of life and as orientation for the transformation of the social world, they exert – sometimes violent – constraints on individuals. Although norms are necessary, they must therefore also be resisted.
The analysis of normativity from a transnational perspective contributed to rethinking the nature and practice of feminist-postcolonial theory and politics. The current world order was considered not only in geopolitical and strategic terms, but also with the help of normative concepts such as justice, democracy and peace. The legitimacy of comprehensive normative systems with global reach and validity was examined.

Normativity performs various functions. As strategies of normalization that regulate social practices and interactions, norms define implicit (social and cultural) as well as explicit (codified) rules of conduct. As principles of valorization, they reward obedience and sanction deviance. The focus here is on ‘normative violence’, which refers to the violence of specific norms that define who qualifies as a political subject. However, in addition to the violence of norms, their power can also be understood in a productive sense: Norms produce certain legitimate subjects by delegitimizing others. The emergence of political agency is thus simultaneously enabled and hindered by norms. Although subjects are dependent on normative orders and emerge from them, they are not completely determined by them. Therein lies the possibility of developing resistance to norms.
Since norms are not an objective and ahistorical given that is detached from human practices, normativity is always negotiable. However, developing a critical relationship to norms requires the ability to transcend the horizon of the present and to consider the possibility of other normative orders. In particular, the discrepancy between what is and what could be represents the starting point for struggles for alternative articulations of norms and thus opens up the space for creative agency.

Feminist-postcolonial practices, which are often located at the margins of power, pursue the transformation of established norms and/or the introduction of alternative norms with the aim of improving the living and working conditions of vulnerable and marginalized groups. Instead of simply adopting supposedly universally valid normative orders, this requires questioning them. In contrast to culturally relativist approaches, a feminist-postcolonial perspective does not simply reject specific norms and ideas whose genesis is located in Western androcentrism. Rather, it seeks to reveal and (re)negotiate their fundamental premises, which are closely interwoven with the history of colonialism. Consequently, the research project adopted a twofold approach: By critically questioning the separation of ‘local’ and ‘global’, the historical conditions and current gendered power relations between the global South and North were considered in a synchronic perspective as the context of the emergence and validity of norms. In addition, the project explored the ways in which norms regulate forms of subjectivity and intersubjectivity. Gendered colonial and postcolonial orders were understood both as power relations and as normative orders. The underlying assumption of the project was that alternative conceptions of normativity emerge at the very moment when Eurocentric and heteronormative orders and norms are challenged. Therefore, in addition to the question of how norms emerge, the project also investigated how norms are conceived and appropriated in struggles for inclusion, justice and equality in order to overcome historical violence.
Taking into account historically evolved gendered power relations, the focus of the five sub-projects was on examining the tensions between different forms of norms, but also the possibilities of their negotiability and their legitimacy. The focus was on how various political actors negotiate the unequal relations between the global North and the global South on the one hand, and within the North and South under the conditions of post-colonialism on the other.

Subproject 1: Decolonization and democratization (Nikita Dhawan):

The starting point of the project was the question of the extent to which current discourses on democracy, transnational justice and human rights are shaped by the colonial legacy. In the first step, the focus was placed on the ambivalence of norms, with a particular focus on the extent to which norms simultaneously exert an empowering and violent function. The results are published in an anthology, which was published by Ashgate in 2011. Building on this, the second part of the project dealt with questions of transnational justice from a postcolonial-feminist perspective. Through a critical analysis of contributions by feminist thinkers such as Nancy Fraser, Seyla Benhabib, Iris Marion Young, Judith Butler and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, this part of the research project dealt with the challenge of decolonization and the question: How can the subaltern be transformed from an object of benevolence to a democratic actor? The research stays in Mumbai/India (March 2010) and South Africa (September 2010) were important for the research. These had three main objectives: Firstly, they served necessary literature searches in various specialized libraries. The main aim was to review the latest material on postcolonial theory and feminist theory formation. Secondly, they made it possible to meet experts in the field of feminist political philosophy and postcolonial theory in India and, thirdly, to gain an insight into current trends within research on decolonization in the Indian context. Parts of the research project were presented at Mumbai University and Witswatersrand University and discussed with local scholars. In addition, the results were presented at several (international) conferences and published in an edited volume and several book chapters.

Subproject 2: Renegotiating gender relations – The gender norms of the United Nations in post-genocide Rwanda (Rirhandu Mageza-Barthel):

Rirhandu Mageza-Barthel’s sub-project follows on from the research of prominent feminist theorists who criticize liberal assumptions about the quality of democracies and democratic processes in which questions of inclusion and exclusion are neither addressed nor problematized. For the post-colonial state of Rwanda, which was in need of reconstruction and renegotiation of its political and social order after the genocide, a critical questioning of the basic ideas of political participation and representation is of particular importance. The project examined the relationship between national and international norms after the genocide in a post-colonial context. To this end, feminist approaches to the domestication of international gender norms were examined both in general and specifically with reference to post-conflict countries and countries of the Global South, which contributed to the further development of feminist approaches to the domestication of norms. The gender analysis of the Rwandan genocide was based on the assumption that the gender-specific political and conflict experiences since Rwanda’s independence have shaped the gender-political interests of women in post-genocide Rwanda. In this context, a research visit to South Africa took place for literature research and expert exchange. The results of the project have been published in several international and peer-reviewed book chapters.

Subproject 3: Responsibility for the ‘Other’ in a postcolonial world. On the deconstruction and decolonization of cosmopolitan norms (Jeanette Ehrmann):

Jeanette Ehrmann’s sub-project reconstructed concepts of cosmopolitan norms from a history of ideas and systematic perspective since the beginning of modern colonialism through the conquest of America. The project pursued the question of how the relationship between colonizers and colonized, generally between Europe and its (constructed) ‘other’ was conceived in normative terms such as those of justice and responsibility and the corresponding rights and duties. The focus was on the writings of Francisco de Vitoria and Bartholomé de las Casas as well as on the discourses of equality and inequality in connection with the Haitian Revolution and the abolition of slavery. The reconstruction aimed at critical insights for conceptions of transnational justice and responsibility under the conditions of postcolonialism with a focus on selected stages in the history of political ideas such as the School of Salamanca and the Haitian Revolution. In addition, an epistemological approach was developed that is intended to make postcolonial perspectives fruitful for questions of political theory, in particular a decolonization of theory following Walter Mignolo and a deconstructive reading of the classics of Western philosophy based on Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. This resulted in a systematic analysis of cosmopolitan norms from a postcolonial perspective.

Subproject 4: Feminist conceptions of normativity and transnational literacy (Elisabeth Fink):

Elisabeth Fink’s sub-project dealt with the process of the transnationalization of trade unions and the question of an adequate thematization of the feminization of work and the ‘new’ international division of labour from a postcolonial-feminist perspective. The focus here is on approaches to the (international) regulation of work, the potential and limits of which are examined using the Bangladeshi garment industry as a case study. To this end, expert knowledge was gathered from trade union representatives from Bangladesh and exploratory field research was carried out in August 2010. During the research stay, a topography of the relevant actors and the structuring of the research field were undertaken on the basis of expert knowledge. At the turn of the year 2011/2012, the main survey phase also took place in Dhaka, during which more than 30 qualitative interviews were conducted.

Subproject 5: Decolonizing transnational alliance building. The negotiation of difference in the movement for global justice (Johanna Leinius):

In her sub-project, Johanna Leinius has been investigating how difference is negotiated in the movement for global justice since mid-2011 by analyzing the format and implementation of intercultural and inter-epistemic workshops between social movements with regard to their power dynamics. Drawing on the insights of postcolonial feminist theory, she discussed the potential of the global justice movement to initiate a transversal politics of alliance building. To this end, the state of research was reviewed and exploratory field research in Lima/Peru was prepared.

The following publications resulted from the work of the professorship during the reporting period:
(peer-reviewed publications are marked with *.)

Monographs and edited volumes:
Dhawan, Nikita, Elisabeth Fink, Johanna Leinius and Rirhandu Mageza-Barthel (eds.) (2016): Negotiating Normativity: Postcolonial Appropriations, Contestations and Transformation, New York: Springer.
*Dhawan, Nikita/Engel, Antke/Holzhey, Christoph H.E. /Woltersdorff, Volker (2016): Global Justice and Desire. Queering Economy London: Routledge.
Dhawan, Nikita (ed.) (2014): Decolonizing Enlightenment: Transnational Justice, Human Rights and Democracy in a Postcolonial World (book series Arbeitskreis ‘Politik und Geschlecht’), Opladen and Farmington Hills: Barbara Budrich Verlag.
Dhawan, Nikita/Castro Varela, María do Mar (2011): Soziale (Un)Gerechtigkeit: Kritische Perspektive auf Diversität, Intersectionalität und Anti-Diskriminierung, Münster: LIT.
* Dhawan, Nikita/ Castro Varela, María do Mar/ Engel, Antke (eds.) (2011): Hegemony and Heteronormativity, Hampshire: Ashgate.
Dhawan, Nikita/ Castro Varela, María do Mar (eds.) (2009): ‘Feminist Postcolonial Theory – Gender and (De)Colonization Processes’, Femina Politica – die Zeitschrift für feministische Politikwissenschaft, Heft 02/2009.
Ehrmann, Jeanette (2020, n.d.): Tropes of freedom. The Haitian Revolution and the Decolonization of the Political , Berlin: Suhrkamp.
Fink, Elisabeth (2018): Transnational activism and women’s work. Social Movement Unionism in Bangladesh Frankfurt/New York: Campus.
Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu (2015): Mobilizing Transnational Gender Politics in Post-Genocide Rwanda, (Gender in a Global/Local World Series), Farnham/Burlington: Ashgate.

Journal articles
*Dhawan, Nikita (2013): “Coercive Cosmopolitanism and Impossible Solidarities”, in: Qui Parle: Critical Humanities and Social Sciences (Special Issue: “Human Rights between Past and Future“), Vol. 22 (1): 139-166.
*Dhawan, Nikita (2013): “Postcolonial Governmentality and the Politics of Rape: Violence, Vulnerability and the State’, in Femina Politica: Journal of Feminist Political Science 2: 85-104.
*Dhawan, Nikita (2013): ‘The Empire Prays Back: Religion, Secularity and Queer Critique’, in Boundary 2, 40(1): 191-222.
Dhawan, Nikita (2012): “Postcolonial States, Civil Society and Subalternity”, in: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 44-45: 30-38.
*Dhawan, Nikita (2011): “Transnational Justice, Counterpublic Spheres and Alter-Globalization”, in: Localities 2: 79-116.
Dhawan, Nikita (2011): “Overcoming Monocultures of Thought: Decolonizing Philosophy”, in: Polylog. Journal for intercultural philosophizing 25: 39-54.
*Dhawan, Nikita (2009) “Zwischen Empire und Empower: Dekolonisierung und Demokratisierung”, in: Femina Politica (special issue: Feministische Postkoloniale Theorie – Gender und (De)Kolonisierungsprozesse), Heft 02/2009: 52-63.
*Dhawan, Nikita, Castro Varela, María do Mar (2009): “Europa provinzialisieren? Yes, please! But how?”, in: Femina Politica, Focus Issue: Feminist Postcolonial Theory – Gender and (De)Colonization Processes, Issue 02/2009: 9-18.
Dhawan, Nikita/ Castro Varela, María do Mar (2009): “Dekolonisierung und die Herausforderungen Feministisch-Postkolonialer Theorie”, in: Bildpunkt. Magazine of the IG Bildende Kunst : 22-25.
Dhawan, Nikita (2008): “Internationale Arbeitsteilung und globale Gerechtigkeit”, in: ROSA – Zeitschrift für Geschlechterforschung an der Universität Zürich (Fokus: Ökonomie)(37).
Dhawan, Nikita (2008): “Postkoloniale Feminismus und die Politik der Subalternität”, in: Olympe. Feminist workbooks on politics (Focus: Postcolonialism: Logic and Perspectives) 27: 36-41.
Ehrmann, Jeanette (2009): “Traveling, Translating and Transplanting Human Rights. Zur Kritik der Menschenrechte aus postkolonial-feministischer Perspektive”, in: Femina Politica (Focus: Feministische Postkoloniale Theorie – Gender und (De)Kolonisierungsprozesse), Issue 02/2009: 84-95.
*Fink, Elisabeth (2014): “Trade Unions, NGOs and Transnationalization: Experiences from the Ready-made Garment Sector in Bangladesh”, in: ASIEN(130): 1-16.
Fink, Elisabeth/Ruppert, Uta (2009): “Postkoloniale Differenzen über transnationale Feminismen. A debate on the transnational perspectives of Chandra T. Mohanty and Gayatri C. Spivak”, in: Femina Politica (Focus: Feminist Postcolonial Theory – Gender and (De-)Colonization Processes), Issue 02/2009: 64-74.
Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu/Schwarzer, Beatrix (2009): ‘Gleichheit oder Gleichgültigkeit? Vom Ende der Regenbogennation’, in: Femina Politica(Focus: Feminist Postcolonial Theory – Gender and (De)Colonization Processes): 74-84.

Book contributions
Dhawan, Nikita (2016): “Political Theory of Subalternity. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak”, in: A. Brodocz/G. Schaal (eds.), Politische Theorien der Gegenwart (Volume III, Chapter V), Opladen and Farmington Hills: UTB/Barbara Budrich, 169-196.
Dhawan, Nikita/ Castro Varela, María do Mar (2013): “Human Rights and its Discontents: Postcolonial Interventions in Human Rights Politics”, in: Human rights. Transdisciplinary challenges Weinheim: Beltz Juventa, 144-161.
Dhawan, Nikita (2012): “Hegemonic Listening and Subversive Silences: Ethical-Political Imperatives”, in: A. Lagaay/M. Lorber (eds.): Destruction in the Performative, Amsterdam: Rodopi, 47-60.
*Dhawan, Nikita (2012): “Transitions to Justice”, in: S. Buckley-Zistel/R. Stanley (eds.), Gender in Transitional Justice, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 264-283.
Dhawan, Nikita (2011): Transnational Justice in a Postcolonial World, in: M. Castro Varela/N. Dhawan (eds.), Soziale (Un)Gerechtigkeit: Kritische Perspektive auf Diversität, Intersektionalität und Anti-Diskriminierung, Münster: LIT, 12-35.
*Dhawan, Nikita/ Castro Varela, María do Mar/Engel, Antke (2011): “Hegemony and Heteronormativity”, in: M. Castro Varela/N. Dhawan/A. Engel (eds.), Hegemony and Heteronormativity, Hampshire: Ashgate, 1-24.
*Dhawan, Nikita/ Castro Varela, María do Mar (2011): “Normative Dilemmas and the Hegemony of Counter-Hegemony”, in: M. Castro Varela/N. Dhawan/A. Engel (eds.), Hegemony and Heteronormativity, Hampshire: Ashgate, 91-119.
Dhawan, Nikita (2010): “Justifying Colonialism/Decolonizing Justice: The (im)possibility of undoing the discontinuity between Recht (law) and Gerechtigkeit (justice)”, in: L. Arndt et. al. (eds.), Die Teilung der Erde. Tableaux zu rechtlichen Synopsen der Berliner Afrika-Konferenz, Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 99-100.
Dhawan, Nikita/ Castro Varela, María do Mar (2010): “La violencia de la representación y la representación de la violencia”, in: B.M. Lucas (ed.), Violencias (in)visibles, Barcelona: Icaria, 15-27.
Dhawan, Nikita (2010): “Spivak: Epistemische Gewalt und subalternes Schweigen”, in: H. Kuch/S. Herrmann (eds.), Philosophien sprachlicher Gewalt, München: Fink Verlag, 370-386.
Dhawan, Nikita/Castro Varela, María do Mar (2009): ‘Gendering Post/Colonialism, Decolonizing Gender – Feminist-Postcolonial Perspectives’, in: I. Kurz-Scherf/J. Lepperhoff/A. Scheele (eds.), Feminism: Critique and Intervention, Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot, 64-81.
Dhawan, Nikita/Castro Varela, María do Mar (2009): “Mission Impossible? Postcolonial theory in German-speaking countries”, in: J. Reuter/P. Irene-Villa (eds.), Postcolonial Sociology. Theoretical connections – empirical findings – political interventions Bielefeld: transcript, 239-260.
Dhawan, Nikita/Castro Varela, María do Mar (2009): “Queer mobil? Heteronormativity and migration research”, in: H. Lutz (ed.), Gender-Mobile? Multiplication and de-spatialization of life forms – transnational spaces, migration and gender Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot, 102-121.
Dhawan, Nikita/Castro Varela, María do Mar (2009): “Breaking the Rules: Bildung und Postkolonialismus”, in: C. Mörsch, et al. (eds.), Kunstvermittlung 2: Zwischen kritischer Praxis und Dienstleistung auf der documenta 12, Zurich: Diaphanes, 339-353.
Dhawan, Nikita/Castro Varela, María do Mar/Randeria, Shalini (2009): “Postkoloniale Theorie”, in: S. Günzel (ed.), Raumwissenschaften, Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp, 308-323.
Ehrmann, Jeanette (2012): “Politiken der Übersetzung. Die Haitianische Revolution als Paradigma einer Dekolonisierung des Politischen”, in: Holger Zapf (ed.), Nichtwestliches politisches Denken: Zwischen kultureller Differenz und Hybridisierung, Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 109-125
Ehrmann, Jeanette (2011), ‘Beyond the Line. State of Exception, Slavery and Thanatopolitics between Enlightenment and (Post-) Colonialism”, in: Daniel Loick (ed.), The nomos of modernity. The political philosophy of Giorgio Agamben Baden-Baden: Nomos, 128-148.
*Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu (2016): “Tracing Women’s Rights after Genocide: The Case of Rwanda”, in Annick T.R. Wibben (ed.), Researching War: Feminist Methods, Ethics and Politics (Interventions Series). London: Routledge, 147-166.
*Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu (2016): Mobilizing Transnational Gender Politics in Post-Genocide Rwanda (Gender in a Global/Local World Series), New York: Routledge (first published 2015 by Ashgate Publishing).
*Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu (2012): ‘Asserting their Presence! Women’s Quest for Transitional Justice in Post-Genocide Rwanda”, in: Buckley-Zistel, Susanne, Ruth Stanley (eds.), Gender in Transitional Justice (Governance and Limited Statehood Series). Basingstoke/New York, 163-190.

Handbook entries
Dhawan, Nikita/Randeria, Shalini (2013): “Perspectives on Globalization and Subalternity”, in: G. Huggan (ed.): Oxford Handbook on “Postcolonialism”, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 559-586.
Dhawan, Nikita (2012): “Diaspora”, in: M. Evans and C. Williams (eds.): Gender: The Key Concepts (Routledge Key Guides), London: Routledge, 48-54.
Dhawan, Nikita (2011): “Postcolonialism”, in: M. Hartmann and C. Offe (eds.): Political Theory and Political Philosophy. An encyclopedia Munich: Verlag C.H.Beck, 55-58.
Dhawan, Nikita/Castro Varela, María do Mar/Randeria, Shalini (2010): ‘Postcolonial Space: Border Thinking and Thirdspace’, in: S. Günzel (ed.), Space. An interdisciplinary handbook Stuttgart: Metzler, 177-189.

Review:
Fink, Elisabeth/Ehrmann, Jeanette (2012): “Frauen aus der Dritten Welt und Erkenntniskritik? Die postkolonialen Untersuchungen von Gayatri C. Spivak zu Globalisierung und Theorieproduktion” by Christine Löw, Sulzbach/Taunus: Ulrike Helmer Verlag, in: Femina Politica. Journal for feminist political science , issue 2/2010, 149-150.

The following events were held during the term of the project:

International lecture series:
WiSe 2009/2010: “Gender and the Political in a Postcolonial World: Negotiating Normativity” in cooperation with the Cornelia Goethe Centrum für Frauenstudien und die Erforschung der Geschlechterverhältnisse (CGC)

Workshops and conferences:
23.11.2009: International conference on the occasion of the founding of the Frankfurt Research Center for Postcolonial Studies (FRCPS) (400 participants)
24-26.06.2010: International Conference: “Desiring Just Economies/Just Economies of Desire” in cooperation with the Institute for Queer Theory (Berlin/Hamburg), Institute for Cultural Inquiry (Berlin), SFB “Cultures of the Performative” (Berlin) (200 participants)
27-28.11.2010: International Conference: “Re-Imagining Gender and Politics: Transnational Feminist Interventions” in cooperation with the AK Politik und Geschlecht (DVPW) (110 participants)
16-18.06.2011: International Graduate Conference: “Colonial Legacies, Postcolonial Contestations: Decolonizing the Social Sciences and the Humanities” (500 participants)
21.05.2011: Event: “What is Critique? – Judith Butler and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak in conversation with Nikita Dhawan & María do Mar Castro Varela” (1000 participants)
28.09.2012: International Workshop: “Entangled Legacies: Enlightenment, Colonialism and the Holocaust” (50 participants)

Lectures:
28.01.2010: Daniel Feierstein (Faculty of Genocide Studies, University of Buenos Aires): “Genocide as a Social Practice with special focus on Argentina”
30.04.2010: Christine M. Jacobsen (IMER Bergen/Unifob Global) and Randi Gressgård (Centre for Women’s and Gender Research (SKOK), UiB): “Tolerance and Citizenship”
02.06.2010: Rajeev Bhargava (Center for Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi): “Are European States Secular?”
09.07.2010: Ilan Kapoor (York University, Toronto): “The Postcolonial Politics of Development”
09.07.2010: Ana Agostino (Feminist Task Force (FTF), Uruguay): “Poverty and Gender”
05.11. 2010: Georg Klauda (Berlin): “Orientalism of (Homo)Sexuality”
05.11.2010: Ursula Scheidegger (Faculty of Political Science, University of Witswatersrand): “Fascination Africa? – Of explorers, missionaries, researchers, cooperation, partnerships and more….”
09.06.2011: Efe Cakmak – Memorial Conflicts of Europe
10.07.2011: Diana Mulinari and Irene Molina – Exploring the colonial heritage of feminism: gender equality and racism in Sweden

FRCPS Colloquium: monthly FRCPS Colloquium for students, doctoral candidates and postdocs