Purpose of the project
The research project Feminist Analysis of Social and Solidarity Economy Practices: Latin America and India, carried out between December 2015 and March 2018 was financed by the Swiss Network for International Studies, SNIS, Geneva.
This research examined six case studies of social and solidarity economy (SSE) initiatives with a feminist perspective in Latin America and India. Social and solidarity economy practices privilege the quest for solidarity over individual (or group) profit-only and rentseeking behaviour, and constitute spaces of deliberation to democratize the economy. A feminist analysis of these gendered practices showed that SSE cannot contribute to sustainable development and become an alternative to current economic (mal)functioning if it does not address the reorganisation of social reproduction, integrating the political goals of gender equality and equitable gendered power relations. The research brought new insights on women’s work and social reproduction, the concept of solidarity, the constitution of political subjects and the articulation with the State. Our feminist analysis of these SSE practices revealed emerging initiatives to reconstitute forms of organisation combining autonomy, communality and territoriality, in defence of life. It examined the contribution of SSE to the renewal of public action and policies in the field of production and social reproduction. The research confirmed that a feminist analysis of SSE initiatives can help understand these as germinal processes that open opportunities for the construction of new social relations, challenging power, gender and social exclusion, despite the many nuances and contradictions that these practices entail.
Project results
- Verschuur, C., Guérin, I., & Hillenkamp, I. (2021). Social Reproduction, Solidarity Economy, Feminisms and Democracy. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71531-1
Read more » - Policy brief on the Swiss Network for International Studies website »
- Interview at Women Today » (in french)
Contacts
Isabelle Guérin,
CESSMA,
Université Paris Diderot,
Case courrier 7017,
75205 PARIS CEDEX 13, FRANCE.
isabelle.guerin@ird.fr
Venkatasubramanian,
French Institute of Pondicherry,
11 Saint Louis Street,
PONDICHERRY – 605001,
PUDUCHERRY, INDIA.
venkat@ifpindia.org