Article Version of Record

Engendering the prefigurative: Feminist praxes that bridge a politics of prefigurement and survival

Author(s) / Creator(s)

Lin, Cynthia S.
Pykett, Alisa A.
Flanagan, Constance
Chávez, Karma R.

Abstract / Description

Prefigurative politics are typically understood as experiments in living, laboring or provisioning that are alternatives to ‘what is’ and prefigure ‘what could be.’ This paper rethinks prefigurative politics, which scholars have often approached by emphasizing their economic and political structures, not the transformation of social relationships and power in these experiments. Despite this scholarly trend, many collectivities organizing around a politics of survival engage in prefigurative practices. In fact, in the process of resisting domination, they are re-imagining social relationships and power. In this paper, we draw on women of color feminist theory to explore the tensions of practicing principled politics and social justice in the deeply compromised spaces of struggle for those groups that act in the radical in-between of prefigurative politics and the politics of survival. By analyzing a reproductive justice organizing project called ‘We are BRAVE’ as a case study, we re-imagine prefigurative politics through three central elements: relationality, self-determination, and intersectionality.

Keyword(s)

politics of survival relationality self-determination intersectionality We are BRAVE radical homeplaces theory in the flesh coalition as thirdspace

Persistent Identifier

Date of first publication

2016-05-24

Journal title

Journal of Social and Political Psychology

Volume

4

Issue

1

Page numbers

302–317

Publisher

PsychOpen GOLD

Publication status

publishedVersion

Review status

peerReviewed

Is version of

Citation

Lin, C. S., Pykett, A. A., Flanagan, C., & Chávez, K. R. (2016). Engendering the prefigurative: Feminist praxes that bridge a politics of prefigurement and survival. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 4(1), 302–317. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v4i1.537
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Lin, Cynthia S.
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Pykett, Alisa A.
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Flanagan, Constance
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Chávez, Karma R.
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2018-11-26T12:45:20Z
  • Made available on
    2018-11-26T12:45:20Z
  • Date of first publication
    2016-05-24
  • Abstract / Description
    Prefigurative politics are typically understood as experiments in living, laboring or provisioning that are alternatives to ‘what is’ and prefigure ‘what could be.’ This paper rethinks prefigurative politics, which scholars have often approached by emphasizing their economic and political structures, not the transformation of social relationships and power in these experiments. Despite this scholarly trend, many collectivities organizing around a politics of survival engage in prefigurative practices. In fact, in the process of resisting domination, they are re-imagining social relationships and power. In this paper, we draw on women of color feminist theory to explore the tensions of practicing principled politics and social justice in the deeply compromised spaces of struggle for those groups that act in the radical in-between of prefigurative politics and the politics of survival. By analyzing a reproductive justice organizing project called ‘We are BRAVE’ as a case study, we re-imagine prefigurative politics through three central elements: relationality, self-determination, and intersectionality.
    en_US
  • Publication status
    publishedVersion
  • Review status
    peerReviewed
  • Citation
    Lin, C. S., Pykett, A. A., Flanagan, C., & Chávez, K. R. (2016). Engendering the prefigurative: Feminist praxes that bridge a politics of prefigurement and survival. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 4(1), 302–317. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v4i1.537
    en_US
  • ISSN
    2195-3325
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1407
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1781
  • Language of content
    eng
  • Publisher
    PsychOpen GOLD
  • Is version of
    https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v4i1.537
  • Keyword(s)
    politics of survival
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    relationality
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    self-determination
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    intersectionality
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    We are BRAVE
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    radical homeplaces
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    theory in the flesh
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    coalition as thirdspace
    en_US
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    Engendering the prefigurative: Feminist praxes that bridge a politics of prefigurement and survival
    en_US
  • DRO type
    article
  • Issue
    1
  • Journal title
    Journal of Social and Political Psychology
  • Page numbers
    302–317
  • Volume
    4
  • Visible tag(s)
    Version of Record