BEYOND EMPIRE AND PATRIARCHY: REIMAGINING FEMALE SUBJECTIVITY IN POSTCOLONIAL FEMINIST THEORY

Abstract

This paper explores how postcolonial feminist theory redefines female subjectivity by moving beyond the twin oppressions of imperialism and patriarchy. It challenges Eurocentric models of feminism that often overlook the layered, context-dependent experiences of women in the Global South. Postcolonial feminist theorists argue that mainstream Western feminism, while instrumental in advancing gender justice, has frequently assumed a universal female subject that erases cultural specificity, class struggle, and the afterlives of colonial domination. Drawing on the work of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, and Trinh T. Minh-ha, this study analyzes how postcolonial feminism resists both colonial legacies and indigenous patriarchal structures by constructing a framework grounded in intersectionality, cultural hybridity, and historical memory. Through close reading of literary and theoretical texts from South Asia and Africa, the paper highlights how women navigate identity as a constantly evolving space—shaped not only by gender but by race, history, language, and geopolitical power. Female subjectivity, in this context, emerges not as a fixed category but as a site of active resistance and creative negotiation. Ultimately, the study contends that postcolonial feminist theory does not merely add new voices to feminist discourse—it transforms the very structure of how agency, identity, and voice are theorized across borders.

Keywords: Postcolonial feminism, female subjectivity, cultural hybridity, intersectionality, Gayatri Spivak, Global South, feminist theory