Posizionamenti, corpi, strategie discorsive: il movimento Femen alla prova dei femminismi contemporanei

Abstract

This study compares some sites, theories and praxes of transnational feminisms in Ukraine and France, in order to examine contemporary feminist mobilization trends. The goal is twofold: to understand similarities and/or differences in the feminist praxes of two locations; and to interrogate the notion and currency of the ―transnational‖ within feminist activism and knowledge-creation. The phenomenon of transnational feminism is interrogated both from a theoretical and empirical perspective. This comparative study focuses on a specific case-study: the topless-feminist group Femen founded in Ukraine in 2008 and settled in France since 2012. In my opinion, Femen corporeality is deeply shaped by both the time and place of its performances: my research focuses not just on Femen‘s feminist discourses and activism but also on their references from previous mobilizations and current relationships with other groups and movements, in different times and spaces. My overall aim is to examine discursive framings of corporeality and transformations in contemporary Ukraine compared with both Ukrainian Soviet past and France, in the interest of the evolving shapes of the transnational feminist public space. Thus, my dissertation addresses questions from two perspectives. An historical perspective, questioning how new gendered spaces are constructed in post-Soviet Ukraine and how Femen defines its position in the current situation of contemporary France. A sociological and feminist perspective, questioning how Femen‘s activism changes when transplanted across different countries. Agreeing with Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan‘s work «on theories of travel and the intersections of feminist, colonial and postcolonial discourses, modernism and postmodern hybridity» (Grewal & Kaplan 1994, p. 1), analyzing Femen, in my opinion, presents a twofold asset: to spread counter-narratives of the articulation between colonial and post-colonial period and to enlarge future possibilities of transnational feminist practices.