Introduction: Local feminisms, global futures

This introduction to seven articles from outside the west(1) explores how different feminisms and activisms intersect, overlap, and diverge, and looks at future possibilities for global feminisms. Some aspects of feminism have been challenged by feminists both inside and outside the west, and tensions between local and global feminisms have evolved. Recently, new challenges have emerged in a world that is arguably becoming increasingly globalized. The papers published here demonstrate that women have diverse "temporalities of struggle" (Mani, 1992, p. 309), sometimes coinciding with feminisms elsewhere, and sometimes developing separately. The way forward, therefore, appears to depend upon understanding the intersections where contradictory priorities meet; exploring the commonalities between different resistances to oppression; and developing an understanding of women's different experiences and contexts from both a local and a global perspective. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.