Challenging White Feminist Histories. (Anti-)Racism in the Historical Culture on Post-1970 Women's Movements in Dutch-Speaking Belgium

Witte geschiedenissen uitgedaagd. (Anti-)racisme in de historische cultuur van vrouwenbewegingen na de jaren 1970 in Nederlandstalig België
Start - End 
2021 - 2026 (ongoing)
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Department of History
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Abstract

Current historiography on post-1970 women’s movements in Flanders is characterized by blindness to racialized power dynamics. This research challenges this blindness by using the framework of intersectionality as a critical inquiry, while simultaneously respecting the genealogy of the framework, which is inherently connected to aspirations of social justice. This is translated to three interrelated research objectives that are overarched by the concept of historical culture. First, this research analyses the historical culture wherein blindness to (anti-)racism in the historiography of post-1970 women's movements has developed by focusing on three influential domains: the memoirs of white progressive-leftist feminists, the academic culture focusing on post-1970 women’s movements, and the archives focusing on feminism and social movements. Second, this research challenges structural whiteness in historiography by analyzing the marginalized historical culture produced by those actors who, because of their focus on both anti-sexism and anti-racism, remained unnoticed in historiography. Third, this research analyses a 'historical counterculture' of epistemic activism against the blindness to (anti-)racism in normative historiography and wonders how this research too can relate to aspects of epistemic justice.

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