Building Blocks of Feminist Foreign Policy: Collective Work
Source: Telus
Tacked onto the phase “foreign policy,” the word “feminist” has been coopted by deeply patriarchal structures to do as little as the low-hanging fruit through the rights/representation/resources dynamic. However, applied with its true transformative power, feminism can be a powerful tool to overhaul the institution of foreign policy from bottom up, by addressing the structural and systemic violence. This would, however, call on us to go beyond the threadbare understanding of feminism, and instead learn and build on feminist practices that have been embedded into inter-community, inter-country, and inter-society relations across time and space – as historical and contemporary examples of Indigenous feminist movements show.
While speaking about how prisons cannot end gender-based violence, abolitionist Angela Davis called for a turn to "transnational feminism," because of "the implications of struggling against capitalism, challenging imperialism, and fighting for a better world.” She highlighted the need to come together to engage in creative projects and dismantle structural violence. This is a valuable building block for creating a transformative feminist foreign policy – unlike its current, state-practiced form, which is very much a product of the military-prison-industry complex.
A powerful route to achieving this vision Angela Davis speaks of, in the feminist foreign policy space, is collective or communal work – the act of coming together, to mutually accomplish a collective act, task, or action toward a shared goal. A clear departure from individualistic cultures that have endured as the norm today, collective work is the foundational wisdom of Indigenous communities world over.
Collective Work: Indigenous Practices
Collective Work is embedded in the worldviews and practices of several communities world over. For instance, in East Africa, the Swahili term harambee, meaning “all pull together,” conveys the idea of community self-help. In Rwanda, Umuganda meaning “coming together in common purpose to achieve an outcome,” is observed nationwide as a day of community service (the last Saturday of each month). In Sudan, the practice of Naffir brings together groups of people through family and village networks for particular collective actions – such as building houses and helping out during harvest season. In Liberia, Kuu is a labour-sharing arrangement for different seasons, where people come together to work collectively.
In Malaysia and Indonesia, the practices of slametan unggahan and gotong royong refer to collective and collective work, where the terms translate to largely mean carrying together or bearing a burden collectively. Every member of society is expected to contribute toward and participate in the endeavour harmoniously, with the aim of nurturing collective action for a common purpose. In the Philippines, Bayanihan, or the practice of collective unity or effort to achieve a particular objective concerns working together in a sense of community. The practice originated in the act of collective support for families that moved by actually carrying their houses.
In Turkey, Imece refers to a traditional practice of collaboration at the village level, involving the equitable sharing of workloads without any central authority to govern the process.
In the Cherokee community, Gadugi refers to a practice of working together or investing cooperative labour within a community. It originally concerned tending to gardens of elderly or infirm tribal members and harvesting crops, but over time, it has become widely known as a mechanism of support for community.
Among the Quechua and Aymara people, collective work, called Mink’a, is a significant component of everyday life. Participants engage to support the whole community, and are paid in kind for their labour.
In Brazil, Mutirão is a form of collective mobilization to achieve a shared end, based entirely on mutual help. Everyone is simultaneously benevolent and benefits from the shared action and the results, and people work in a rotating system that does not adhere to any hierarchical structure. Labour reciprocity is also commonly practiced in Chile, through mingas, who engage in reciprocal engagements of labour called dias cambiados.
A Building Block for Feminist Foreign Policy
The evolution of the modern state and economy has its roots in violence and colonialism – factors that continue in different forms, with the normalization of capitalism, militarism, and the reduction of people to productive agents for profiteering. These dynamics have limited our understanding and ideas of “work” and have led us to move away from community in pursuit of individualistic thinking and approaches, accumulation of wealth, and hustle culture. Within this container, survival becomes key: Time, energy, emotional capacity, and resources are in limited supply, and attempts at transformation are left to the peripheries. The heavy focus on the individual shifts away from the need for systemic overhaul, and normalizes a scarcity dynamic that turns people against each other in the name of competition.
Collective work arrives with the understanding that differences exist, power goes hand in glove with accountability, and trust is foundational to achieving our shared goals. It recognizes the interconnectedness of life, and operates from an understanding that collaboration does more for collective good and well-being than competition. It recognizes that conflicts are normal, expected, and generative, rather than points of disconnection.
Collective work is effectively a powerful counter to the very limited frames of thinking that colonization normalized by prioritizing the divorce of the individual from community. The world order before the advent of colonization and the imposition of the modern state involved significant practices of collective work in different parts of the world, and several of these worldviews have sustained in several parts of the world even today.
Reflecting back on collective work throughout history and in contemporary times, feminist groups and Indigenous feminist collectives have strived to respond to systemic and structural violence by resisting the prioritization of the individual over the collective. We see many examples of these actions: From resisting corporate land grabs for mining and other operations to protecting and conserving biodiversity, from mobilizing on the ground to resist violence and human rights violations to developing and implementing efforts to counter economic, militaristic, and environmental harm. Feminist foreign policy practice in history – particularly in practices like food sovereignty and resistance against colonialism – have all been deeply rooted in collective work. To dispense with collective work and prioritize just the inclusion of individual women or to enhance funding for programs that keep civilizational feminism alive is to sideline a robust history of practice of feminist foreign policy.
References
Alisauskas, A. (2019). Collective Acts. Archivaria, 87(87), 164-172.
Ghizzo, E. (2021). Collective Feminist Leadership: Unlearning the Me, Me, Me. https://www.boell.de/en/2021/10/29/collective-feminist-leadership-unlearning-me-me-me
Hercus, C. (1999). Identity, emotion, and feminist collective action. Gender & Society, 13(1), 34-55.
Smith, B., Shue, S., & Villarreal, J. (1992). Asian and Hispanic philanthropy: sharing and giving money, goods, and services in the Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Mexican, and Guatemalan communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. University of San Francisco, Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management, College of Professional Studies.
Sweetman, C. (2013). Introduction, feminist solidarity and collective action. Gender & Development, 21(2), 217-229.
Note
This article draws from the wisdom, practices, and life work of Indigenous groups. While educating ourselves on Indigenous worldviews is important, we understand that our actions can also contribute to and enable appropriation. As part of our ongoing attempts at practicing accountability, we invite readers to consider making a donation to Indigenous organizations listed here any other Indigenous groups, collectives, organizations, or initiatives to support their lives and work.
