Under Western Eyes
Under Western Eyes – Chandra Talpade Mohanty
Tamrat Hathaway
Chandra Talpade Mohanty is a Sociologist she is a postcolonial and transnational feminist theorist from Mumbai, India, who is currently a professor of Women and Gender Studies and Sociology at Syracuse University. Under Western Eyes was her first feminist publication written while she was still a student in the midst of what she describes as a “very vibrant transnational movement” of 1986 (2003,pg.536). It was one of Mohanty’s most famous texts. Dr. Mohanty writes a critique of the creation of imagery, language, and knowledge within Western Feminism about women of the Global South. She draws attention to how knowledge is used by Western Feminists and criticizes its effects on non-western women. Mohanty shows how she and other transnational women and scholars of the Global South lose their identity whilst under the colonizing gaze of Western Feminism.
Mohanty opens the piece by addressing the threat of marginalization and ghettoization of “third world feminisms”. She suggests that the construction of “third world feminism” entails two projects that must occur simultaneously: “the internal critique of hegemonic “Western” feminisms, and formulation of autonomous, geographically, historically, and culturally grounded feminists concerns and strategies” (1986,pg.51). It is the former project that Mohanty tasks herself with in Under Western Eyes, by breaking down the production of the monolithic “third world woman” and the hegemonic dichotomy between Western feminism and women of the Global South.
Mohanty explains the influence Western Feminism has in the terminology and imagery used and spread across the world. By assigning itself as the origin of Feminism, Western Feminism creates a hegemonic authority, a power that is used by Euro-American women to distinguish themselves from women of the Global South, and thus produces the idea of the “…“third world woman”— an image which appears arbitrarily constructed but nevertheless carries with it the authorizing signature of Western humanist discourse” (1986,p.53). It is through this distinction between the Global North and South where we find a border. Mohanty makes excellent and precise arguments that lay a foundation of understanding cross-cultural theory which, like most critical theory, practices deconstruction, colonizing and oppressive systems and presuppositions while developing new language and practices in the hope of liberating ourselves
In 2003 Mohanty published “‘Under Western Eyes’ Revisited” and reflected on her nearly 20 year old essay. She starts by stating that her position has changed since she wrote “Under Wester Eyes” and now as a professor, rather than under the Western gaze, she is inside the Western gaze. The scholar adds details to the dichotomy between Euro-American women and non-Euro-American women, and argues for the anitglobalization movement and possible ways to internationalize feminist curricula and develope cross cultural conversation and theory. Mohanty claims that by changing the curricula of which we use to teach how to interpret and understand the world, integral to
“The way we construct curricula and the pedagogies we use to put such curricula into practice tells a story….It is the way we position historical narratives of experience in relation to each other, the way we theorize relationality as both historical and simultaneously singular and collective that determines how and what we learn when we cross cultural and experimental borders.” (2003, pg.545)
There are curricula like the “add-and-stir” mode which end up leaving Western feminism and Euro-American women unchallenged and pristine, and create monolithic images of “third world women” as the powerless victim stereotype whos, “lives and struggles outside this [Euro-American] geographical context only serve to confirm or contradict this originary feminist (master) narrative” (pg.546). Modes like these can be adjusted to work more like Mohanty suggests, a “comparative feminsit studies” or “feminsit solidarity” model which allows for criticism and decolonization within Western feminism and creates more room for internationalization within feminist/any curricula. Mohanty claims that U.S. “…women’s movements have become increasingly conservative, and much radical, antiracist feminist activism occurs outside the rubric of such movements” (pg.536). Being able to have cross cultural discussion can inspire our own radicalization in the Westen world.
Within everyday life there are various standards within the cultures we live in that govern how we live. The beauty standards of many cultures target women and set an expectation for how their bodies should look. In many cultures of the Global South, Western beauty standards have crept in and colonized the minds of the people. Grace Neutral takes us through Sao Paulo, Brazil, to hear from Brazilian women about the beauty standards in Brazil, which define beauty within a European silhouette: ‘long straight hair, light skin, and slim yet curvy bodies’. Neutral interviews various Brazilian women who have varying stances on the beauty standards. Many of whom have been fighting for their own beauty by designing their own clothes, wearing their hair natural and curly alongside the growing movement of Afro-Brazilians who are doing the same, fighting back against the ruthless racism that is tied so tightly with this image of beauty. Neutral interviews a female Brazilian rap artist who is producing music that yells loud and proud against the ever pervasive colonizing glares and harassment from people who expect women to look a very specific way. Neutral interviews a woman who seems to be caught up within the images of ideal beauty, and is willing to undergo cosmetic surgery to alter her body to fit in the frame of beauty, which is readily available to women as young as 16 due to them being convinced they need that type of body. Through their efforts these women of the Global South vehemently push to decolonize themselves and their people.
Non-European feminists carry the weight of western feminism by studying the terminology and the cultural contexts that surround those terms. Scholars spend time to become fluent in western culture to understand and transcribe and then develop their own language within their own cultural context. These videos show the overwhelming beauty, history and strength of having an accent in the U.S.. Yaw Kyeremateng expresses his frustrations with U.S. Americans, who have accents themselves not giving the same patience and respect he had given them when they talked. He beautifully sums it up “It is why when you speak I try my best to listen, to understand, to taste the salt in your accent. So why do you refuse to taste the sweetness in mine.”
Denice Frohman speaks of their mother’s accent, a “stubborn compass always pointing her towards home”. Frohman’s mother’s accent is too much for english to handle, too rich, too valuable for it to change. These performances are a testament to the immense integrity and courage within transnational peoples, their words a reservoir, a gateway to breaking through into cross cultural conversation and exchange of ideas.
Works Cited
Denice Frohman- Accents. Youtube , 2013. https://youtu.be/qtOXiNx4jgQ.
Grace Neutral Discovers the Brazilian Girls Leading the New Beauty Revolution. Youtube, 2016. https://youtu.be/Cja_ND2iIWI.
Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses”. 1986.
Mohanty,Chandra Talpade. “Under Western Eyes Revisited: Feminist Solidarity Through Anticapitalist Struggles”. 2003
Yaw Kyeremateng – “Accent” @WANPOETRY (TGS 2018). YouTube , 2018. https://youtu.be/d9obCZ-Fhog.