CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2022
| Author | Gonzalez Paul, Carla |
|---|---|
| Title | Intersectionality in Feminist Activism in Chile: Contributions to the Decolonization of Feminist Theory |
| Summary | The 2019 social revolt began in Chile after the increase of the metro fare. However, there was an extension of issues that brought together activists from different sectors of Chilean society. Feminist activists were a crucial part of the protests, and I argue that it is impossible to understand the social revolt without feminism. My objective in this thesis is to explore the relationship between the 2019 social revolt and feminist activism in Chile. In particular, I am interested in how intersectionality has been understood and/or practiced in social movements from October 2019 to May 2022 in Santiago, Chile, for feminist activists who have participated in the protests. To do so, I conducted feminist qualitative research, which involved 15 semi-structured interviews with feminist activists from diverse ages and backgrounds based in Santiago. Drawing on decolonial feminist theory and intersectionality, I analyze how feminist activists produced critical knowledge from the South and how that contributes to decolonizing feminist theory. I found intersectionality to be a key framework for understanding how my interviewees identifies intersections between different systems of domination. I argue that feminist activists also practiced intersectionality by establishing alliances with other activists and mobilizing during the social revolt. Feminist activists conceptualized the common enemies of social revolt, in which they identified neoliberalism, the state, and patriarchy as the main enemies. These enemies were sometimes difficult to distinguish as they worked together and were intertwined. My interviewees identified them and decided to organize to defeat them. They found unity with other types of activism an enhancer of their strengths. They also highlighted their role as protagonists in the social revolt, where they remembered their past struggles as important antecedents of the social revolt. In response to this revolt, there was a continuity of violence from the government perpetuated mainly by the police and a continuity of transformative movements, with past feminist struggles being significant. I argue that happened during the social revolt has impacted concrete and symbolic dimensions, changing what is possible to imagine in our society. |
| Supervisor | Loney, Hannah |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2022/gonzalez-paul_carla.pdf |
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