Feminist Productions “In Need of Saving”: From #Savemelania To #Saveeuropeansemiperiphery
Feminist Productions “In Need of Saving”: From #Savemelania To #Saveeuropeansemiperiphery

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses the issue of feminist knowledge production and reproduction in relation to the subject and her geo-political location. This discussion was prompted by Sofi Oksanen’s letter to Melania Trump in 2017. We argue that this letter is subtly based on the power dynamics of the centre, semiperiphery and periphery, and we attempt to make these dynamics visible. Namely, Oksanen addresses M. Trump as the one who made it without the necessary critique of what ‘making-it’ means, while at the same time she positions her as the potential hero that can save ‘us’ all, where ‘us’ refers to the women in the semiperiphery. This heroization of M. Trump presupposes that post-socialist countries face gender (and gendered) issues at the same time as it presupposes that these issues cannot be effectively and successfully addressed by the women in the postsocialist countries themselves. Thus, Oksanen’s heroization is based on a two-fold process of constituting a vulnerable subject stripped of her agency, i.e. the women in post-socialist countries, and an autonomous, agentic subject for whose intervention she calls for, that is, a ‘Western-ized’ subject. Such gestures, which are evident in the letter, are a part of reproducing the geopolitical dynamics between the centre, semiperiphery and periphery, or, more specifically, of constructing the semi-peripheral post-socialist countries, the construct of which neglects the vigour of feminist practices, productions and movements in post-socialist countries.

• Details
• Contents