Deconstructing Postmodernism and the Mainstream Developmental Discourse of Women's Empowerment in the (South) Asian Context

Discussion Papers are a series of manuscripts in their draft form. They are not intended for circulation or distribution except as indicated by the author. For that reason Discussion Papers may not be reproduced or distributed without the written consent of the author. Abstract: This paper starts with an initial gesture accepting the validity of many of the criticisms of modernity by some leading postmodern thinkers. From this initial position, it then evaluates the postmodernist positions themselves with regards to democracy, women's empowerment and justice by paying careful attention to the arguments of these leading postmodernists. It then develops a theory of deep democracy and radical subjectivity which can be used to deconstruct the rhetoric of international organizations on women's empowerment. However, shallow and self-serving as this rhetoric is, it nevertheless can lead to a limited improvement in women's status contrary to the claims of the conservatives. Furthermore, the theory can also be used to de/reconstruct the liberal and social democratic positions on women's empowerment. Such a deep democratic perspective in South Asia focuses attention on enhancing social capabilities through all means, but most importantly through the political self-activities of the multitude-particularly the radical subjectivities and actions of the most oppressed women who can and will increasingly take leading roles in overcoming the rule of global capital. 2 This paper has at least two objectives. One is to offer a way out of the nihilistic and relativist varieties of postmodernism without falling prey to the fallacies and rigidities of modernism. The second objective is to apply the theory of critical deconstruction developed through this attempt at overcoming both modernity and postmodernity to the substantive problem of women's empowerment. The observation that there has been an increasing intensity and extensive talk of women's empowerment in the mainstream development communities is hardly novel. However, the question whether such talk is sensible is not a trivial one. At least taking this question seriously and exploring its rhetorical and other dimensions analytically is one objective of this paper. However, unpacking the idea of sensibility in this context requires a certain special kind of deconstruction of both political and philosophical signifying gestures. It will be seen at the end that the rhetorical trope of empowerment is not policy neutral. But both conservatives and liberals-and even some radicals-are likely to be disappointed by my results. Against the conservatives I will show that the rhetorical trope of …