Forging a New Political Imaginary: Transnational Southasian Feminisms

This chapter contributes to the ongoing debate on transnational feminisms, foregrounding regional transnational feminist networks and knowledge production. It reflects on two decades of cross-border movement building in South Asia, which have coalesced into a new political imaginary for a Southasian identity. The chapter first elaborates on the processes by which cross-border solidarities were constructed through recognition of multiple identities, mutual interests, and the need for joint action, then discusses knowledge production through interactive regional analyses, as reflected in the South Asian Feminist Declarations of 1989 and 2006. It elaborates on two key Southasian feminist interventions within two broader social movements - the Pakistan-India peace movement and the movement for a People’s Union of South Asia. Finally, it discusses challenges to the project of “denationalizing” and the emergence of a new generation of South Asian feminists who are asserting a different notion of the “regional/transnational