Introductory chapter to Gender and Globalization in Asia and the Pacific: Method, Practice, Theory

Abstract

What is globalization? How is it gendered? How does it work in the complex and varied societies of Asia and the Pacific? This collection of sixteen original essays offers critical feminist analyses of dynamic global processes. We take our three anchor concepts—gender, globalization, Asia/Pacific—as points on an interactive triangle. There is no single starting point, but rather an energetic and changing set of relationships among the three areas. Each point both causes and is affected by changes in the others. Our inquiries are produced out of the vigorous intellectual energy our triad of concepts provokes. We take fresh stock of globalization’s complexities, pursue critical feminist inquiry about women, gender, and sexualities, and produce new insights into changing life patterns in Asian and Pacific Island societies.