2016, No. (9), Cultural Heritage

---

Jennifer Ramme
Symbolic mothering. Genealogical narratives as a peripheralization practice

PDF version

Keywords: feminism, Poland, history politics, genealogy, peripheralization

Abstract:
The article takes up on the problem of genealogical narratives of influence produced by nongovernmental feminist environments aiming for social change. The focus of this article lies on mother-daughter narratives and its function as a centralization and marginalization practice. A hypothesis is that such narratives serve the legitimization and stabilizing of present and future positionings of feminist actors in relation to each others. There are many possible factors enabling the establishment of successful narratives of influence, such as for example geographical location or privileges resulting from certain identity categorization. In this text selected disputes (such as a debate on a waves chronology of “Polish feminism”) and events (such as the 8 of March demonstration “Manifa” in Warsaw) serves to analyze the problem of setting narratives of influence, with a perspective on specific fields and types of feminist activism in the 2000s in Poland. The aim oft his article to open up the floor for a reflection on history politics, as well in cases when history is produced as an emancipatory or counter-history. Instead of applying single time-lines of genealogical cause-effect narratives bound to figures of leaders, the author proposes a multiplication of perspectives and urges to pay more attention to social-political contexts and processes, as a possible reason for the emergence of multiple, collective (counter-)actions.

About Author:
JENNIFER RAMME - research assistant and lecturer at Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences at European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany at the Chair of German-Polish Cultural and Literary Relations and Gender Studies. E-mail: ramme[at]europa-uni.de

References

Benford Robert D. 2002. Controlling narratives and narratives as control in social movements. W Joseph E. Davis (ed.). Stories of Change: Narrative and Social Movements. State University of New York Press. New York Albany. 53−76.
Benjamin Walter. 2007. Über den Begriff der Geschichte. W Honold Alexander (ed.). Walter Benjamin Erzählen. Schriften zur Theorie der Narration und zur literarischen Prosa.Suhrkamp. 129-142.
Benjamin Walter. 1969. Illuminations: Essays and Reflections. New York− Schocken.
Blaut James Morris. 1993. The Colonizer's Model Of The World. Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History. the Guilford Press London−New York.
Graff Agnieszka. 2007. A Different Chronology: Reflections on Feminism in Contemporary Poland. W Stacy Gillis, Gillian Howie, Rebecca Munford (Ed.). Third Wave Feminism. A Critical Exploration. Palgrave. London. 142−155.
Graff Agnieszka 2007. Odmienna chronologia. Refleksje nad feminizmem we współczesnej Polsce. Zadra. Pismo feministyczne 72-4 (32-33). 11−16.
Gunnarsson Payne Jenny. 2012. The logics of Sisterhood: Intra-feminist debates in Swedish feminist zines. European Journal of Women's Studies 19 (2). 187−202.
Haraway Donna. 1988. Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. Feminist Studies 14 (3). 575−599.
Hark Sabine. 2005. Dissidente Partizipation. Eine Diskursgeschichte des Feminismus. Suhrkamp.
Hark Sabine. 2009. Was ist und wozu Kritik? Über Möglichkeiten und Grenzen feministischer Kritik heute, Feministische Studien 27 (1). 22−35.
Kapp Steven. 1989. Collective Memory and the Actual Past. Representations 26. 123-149.
Lyotard Jean-François. 1984. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, Theory and History of Literature. Volume 10. Manchester University Press. Minneapolis. Limanowska Barbara. 2007. Zgubione w metodologii. Zadra. Pismo feministyczne 2−4 (32−33). 17−20.
Meyer David S. 2009. Claiming credit. Stories of Movements Influences as Outcomes. W Culture, Social Movements, and Protest, Ashgate. Johnston Hank (ed.). Fahrgate/Burlington. 55−76.
Niegrzeczne dziewczynki. Nowa jakość Emancypunx. Interview by Anna Nacher. Zadra. Pismo feministyczne 2001. 2 (7). 15−18.
Pęczak Mirosław. 1992. Mały słownik subkultur młodzieżowych. Wydawnictwo Naukowe Semper. Warszawa.
Poletta Francesca 1998. Contending Stories: Narratives in Social Movements. Qualitative Sociology 21 (4). 419−446.
Ramme Jennifer. 2014. Integracja czy autonomia? (Kontr)kultura na przykładzie działalności anarchofeministycznej w Polsce. Stan Rzeczy 2 (7). 119−149.
Snochowska-Gonzales Claudia. 2001. Młode? Gniewne? Zadra 1 (6).
Steadman Rice John. 2002. Getting Our Histories Straight”: Culture, Narrative, and Identity in the Self-Help Movement. W Stories of Change: Narrative and Social Movements. Joseph E. Davis (ed.). State University of New York Press. New York –Albany. 79−100.
Stoetzler Marcel, Yuval-Davis Nira. 2002. Standpoint Theory, Situated Knowledge and the Situated Imagination, Feminist Theory 3. 315−333.
Thomson Becky. 2002. Multiracial feminism. Recasting the chronology of second wave feminism. Feminist Studies 28 (2). 336−360.
Zarzycki Tomasz. 2009. Peryferie. Nowe ujęcia symbolicznych zależności zależności centro-peryferyjnych. Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar. Warszawa.