Chandra Talpade Mohanty (1955–) and Third World Feminism

This entry situates Mohanty’s work and Third World feminism in an analysis of class, race and imperialism, and of working-class organization. It assesses the contributions of Third World feminism and what a Marxist perspective and the centrality of the capital-labor relation offers to anti-imperialist and anti-racist organizing across borders. It touches on questions that women’s movements have consistently grappled with: the need for recognizing difference but also building solidarities across difference, gendered struggles against the state and colonial rule, women’s labor in the global economy and strategies for resistance. The extent to which Third World feminism has influenced the contemporary movements against capitalism has determined the power of its legacy.