Over recent decades, the Polish political landscape has experienced significant shifts, from an exemplary democratization to rapid decline to a recent democratic resurgence. While attacks on reproductive rights between 2015 and 2023 were recognized as an important component of "democratic backsliding," many of these rights were never guaranteed in the first place. In fact, some, such as abortion rights, were rolled back as part of the process of democratization. To understand the gendered troubles with contemporary Polish democracy, we focus on that initial rollback in 1993 as a moment when the shape of Polish democracy and the new social contract were negotiated. We focus on how this controversial "Abortion Compromise" between political elites and the Catholic Church entrenched conservative values and restricted women's rights. Based on an analysis of policy and parliamentary debates, we argue that the resulting narrow understanding of the political demos and a weak formal democracy facilitated contemporary challenges to gender equality and Polish democracy, offering insights into the ongoing international debates on democratic backsliding and crisis.
This article examines how colonial continuities shape the lived experiences of "undocumented" Congolese women in Belgium, focusing on memory, self-narration, and agency. Drawing on decolonial theory and an intersectional framework, it explores how intersections of race, gender, and legal status contribute to their subalternation and alienation. The study emphasizes the role of space, both public and private, in constructing and contesting these women's identities and memories. In-depth interviews reveal that embodied precarity and the coloniality of space shape women's agency and everyday practices. The findings show that their memories are continuously remolded by socio-political contexts and colonial legacies, expressed through gendered, racialized relationships with borders within the Belgian national framework. By centering life narratives, this research analyzes the interplay of memory, space, and coloniality, contributing to scholarship on postcolonial migration and memory construction in Belgium. Cet article examine la fa & ccedil;on dont les continuit & eacute;s coloniales fa & ccedil;onnent les v & eacute;cus des femmes congolaises "sans-papiers" en Belgique en se concentrant sur la m & eacute;moire, l'auto-narration et l'agentivit & eacute;. S'appuyant sur la th & eacute;orie d & eacute;coloniale et un cadre intersectionnel, il explore comment l'intersection de la race, le genre, et le statut l & eacute;gal contribuent & agrave; leur subalternation et ali & eacute;nation. L'& eacute;tude met en avant le r & ocirc;le de l'espace, & agrave; la fois public et priv & eacute;, dans la construction et la contestation des identit & eacute;s et m & eacute;moires de ces femmes. L'analyse d'entretiens approfondis r & eacute;v & egrave;le comment la pr & eacute;carit & eacute; incarn & eacute;e et la colonialit & eacute; de l'espace structurent l'agentivit & eacute; et les pratiques quotidiennes de ces femmes. Les r & eacute;sultats montrent que leurs souvenirs sont continuellement remodel & eacute;s par les contextes socio-politiques et les h & eacute;ritages coloniaux, s'exprimant & agrave; travers des relations genr & eacute;es et racialis & eacute;es avec les fronti & egrave;res, au sein m & ecirc;me du cadre national belge. En donnant une place centrale aux r & eacute;cits de vie, cette recherche analyse l'interaction entre m & eacute;moire, espace et colonialit & eacute;, contribuant ainsi aux & eacute;tudes sur la migration postcoloniale et la construction de la m & eacute;moire en Belgique. Este art & iacute;culo examina c & oacute;mo las continuidades coloniales configuran las experiencias vividas de las mujeres congole & ntilde;as "indocumentadas" en B & eacute;lgica, centr & aacute;ndose en la memoria, la auto-narraci & oacute;n y la agencia. Bas & aacute;ndose en la teor & iacute;a decolonial y en un marco interseccional, explora c & oacute;mo las intersecciones entre raza, g & eacute;nero y estatus legal contribuyen a su subalternaci & oacute;n y alienaci & oacute;n. El estudio destaca el papel del espacio, tanto p & uacute;blico como privado, en la construcci & oacute;n y disputa de las identidades y memorias de estas mujeres. Las entrevistas en profundidad revelan que la precariedad encarnada y la colonialidad del espacio moldean la agencia y las pr & aacute;cticas cotidianas de las mujeres. Los resultados muestran que sus memorias se reconfiguran continuamente por los contextos sociopol & iacute;ticos y los legados coloniales, manifest & aacute;ndose a trav & eacute;s de relaciones generizadas y racializadas con las fronteras dentro del marco nacional belga. Al otorgar un lugar central a los relatos de vida, esta investigaci & oacute;n analiza la interacci & oacute;n entre memoria, espacio y colonialidad, contribuyendo al campo de los estudios sobre migraci & oacute;n poscolonial y la construcci & oacute;n de la memoria en B & eacute;lgica.
This article explores reproductive violence against China's internally colonized Uyghurs through the lens of reproductive justice developed by women of color in the United States (US). Reproductive justice includes the right to birth and raise children. We follow Sara Salem's example of engaging "Western" theories in "non-Western" spaces of diaspora Uyghurs' digital testimonies from the Uyghur Tribunal based in the United Kingdom (2020-2021). We ask: what insights arise from engaging reproductive injustices through reproductive justice in digital testimonies that offer resistance while simultaneously generating ethical concerns? Sub-questions concern how well reproductive justice travels, and positionality in diaspora testimony. Building on Saskia Witteborn's study of Uyghur testimonies, we argue that reproductive justice transforms outside the US, and specifically that addressing reproductive justice for Uyghurs points to geopolitical complications in countering reproductive violence in China. This article broadens research on internal colonialism and reproductive justice. While reproductive justice's roots underline activism, this is largely impossible in the context of Uyghur and similar political communities in China given the extent of digital censorship and other forms of repression, raising the question of whether and how the international community should respond. The article also develops the concept of internal colonialism by considering a specific gendered form of colonization - that of reproductive injustice.
African feminist pro-choice abortion activism and political mobilization is shaped by colonial legacies in a multitude of ways. A key area where sustained colonial dynamics are visible is in the relationship between pro-choice abortion activists and organizations funded by and/or located in the Global North. How activists in the African space navigate these relationships and infrastructures has been a sustained site of critique within decolonial and postcolonial literature. However, accounts from pro-choice abortion activists and allies working on abortion access in Africa, particularly those working in and with communities, are limited. As a result, Afrofeminist experiences of and perspectives on navigating transnational pro-choice abortion activist infrastructures are invisibilized. This article centers these perspectives and interrogates the complex reasons why and the process through which African pro-choice abortion activists and allies navigate transnational collaborations. Through centering activists' and allies' contributions and Afrofeminist perspectives, we contend that African pro-choice activists strategically engage in international collaborations to challenge anti-abortion politics that have gained traction in the African postcolony where abortion has been positioned as "un-African." The article highlights the need for conversations on relationships between the different actors in pro-choice abortion activism to center African feminist voices and work from Afrofeminist perspectives.
This article details the internet shutdowns, platform shadowbanning, and countermovement doxxing as endured by feminist activists in India. Taken together, these practices and tools represent a digital Hindutva governance that comprises and co-constitutes the power of the state, corporations, and pro-government actors. This governance works through diffused mechanisms that further construct a new digital governmentality, as activists limit their own activity in response to perceived threats. The findings build on feminist scholarship detailing digital space as gendered and challenge reductive, state-centric narratives about digital capitalism and colonialism. The study is based on digital ethnographic fieldwork with feminist activists in Hindi- and English-speaking northern India between 2019 and 2023 and demonstrates the value of thinking with those who must navigate, endure, and resist digital power.
Shamima Begum - one of three schoolgirls who traveled to Syria to join Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in 2015 - has been the subject of many intersectional analyses that have highlighted the gendered, racist, and neo-Orientalist frames that have been deployed in relation to her story. What has been unraveled, so far, is the positioning of Begum within a narrative that has functioned to strip her of political agency. Building on this literature, I seek to take this examination of Begum's case further and argue that this gendered treatment has also functioned to punish her. This article traces two specific discourses through which this punishment has been operationalized. First, the insistence on a political apology from Begum for the crimes of ISIS has positioned her as a proxy for the terrorist organization. These apologies, which are doomed to be rejected, have left Begum as culpable for the atrocities of ISIS. Second, I argue that the discourse of the "mommy myth" has been weaponized to further seal Begum's punishment. Thus, this article shows that even though her political agency has been erased, Begum has still been firmly cast as a threat via this legitimation of punishment - the strength of which has, ultimately, rendered her stateless.
