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12 Populism

  • Christopher Lizotte
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Abstract

This chapter provides an account of populism and its encounters with feminism and feminist geography. After providing an overview of debates about the meaning of populism, it considers how feminist scholarship, and especially feminist scholarship in geography, has dealt with populism as a phenomenon. Some populist movements have identified feminism as an elite and therefore alienating ideology, and feminists have identified sexism, homophobia, and transphobia as core characteristics of populism in some contexts. I argue that, although many contemporary manifestations of populist politics are hostile to feminist values as they are broadly understood, this opposition is not inherent to populism and there are opportunities to reformulate the distinction between ‘people’ and ‘elite’ that have genuine potential for a gender-inclusive politics.

Abstract

This chapter provides an account of populism and its encounters with feminism and feminist geography. After providing an overview of debates about the meaning of populism, it considers how feminist scholarship, and especially feminist scholarship in geography, has dealt with populism as a phenomenon. Some populist movements have identified feminism as an elite and therefore alienating ideology, and feminists have identified sexism, homophobia, and transphobia as core characteristics of populism in some contexts. I argue that, although many contemporary manifestations of populist politics are hostile to feminist values as they are broadly understood, this opposition is not inherent to populism and there are opportunities to reformulate the distinction between ‘people’ and ‘elite’ that have genuine potential for a gender-inclusive politics.

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