Main description:

What ideas are overlooked in contemporary feminist politics? How do particular issues become part of the feminist agenda? Why do we need to think about how feminists imagine and actualize their political objectives?This book explores these questions through the notion of oversight-a concept used both to consider what has been overlooked and to examine how particular objects of feminist politics become visible in the first place. Through chapters that focus on realities lived by trans women, Viviane Namaste explores diverse case studies and facets of political life: women's labour, the archiving of everyday life, the history of HIV, urban development and displacement, bisexualities, and the culture of feminist activists themselves.Oversight suggests that feminists need to engage in careful, deep reflection on how feminist knowledge comes into being. This book will be of interest to scholars in women's and gender studies, community development, sociology, social work, geography, history, and sexuality studies. Its accessible tone, pedagogical questions, and suggested readings make it well suited to classroom use. Its exploration of activist culture will be of particular interest to advocates of social justice both inside and outside of the university.All royalties from the sale of this book will be donated to the Emergency Relief Fund of PASAN-Prisoners' HIV/AIDS Support Action Network. This fund helps support individuals who are newly released from jail and who need financial resources for housing, food, medications, and the replacement of identity documents.

Contents:

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Oversight: How and Why Feminist Thinking Matters
Further Reading
Notes
References
Chapter One
Montreal by Night: Critical Thoughts on Radical Health Research
Introduction
Montreal as a City of Leisure, Sex, and Sexuality
Histories of Public Health and Infectious Disease in Montreal
Conclusion
Questions for Discussion and Reflection
Further Reading
Notes
References
Chapter Two
Labour, the State, and Global Capitalism: Challenges for Archiving Trans Lives
Cabarets
Clinical Health
Conclusion
Questions for Discussion and Reflection
Further Reading
Notes
References
Chapter Three
Reflections on a Changing City: Heritage, the Transformation of Montreal's Downtown Core, and the Economic Dimensions of Oversight
The Quartier des spectacles and the Revitalisation of Saint-Laurent Boulevard
Methodological Issues in Our Reflections on Quebec Heritage
Data and Evidence Presented by the Promoters
The General Orientations of the Quartier des spectacles
Summary of the Situation
Recommendations
Epilogue
Questions for Discussion and Reflection
Further Reading
References
Chapter Four
The Impact of HIV in Parisian Trans Communities, 1980-2000: The Relevance of History for Critical Epistemologies on HIV/AIDS 77 Histories of HIV/AIDS
Overview of the Research Study
Main Study Findings
Conclusion: The Contributions of History in the Analysis of HIV/AIDS
Questions for Discussion and Reflection
Further Reading
Notes
References
Chapter Five
Critiquing the AIDS Bureaucracy: An Open Letter to the Canadian AIDS Society (CAS), with Nora Butler Burke and Zack Marshall History of This Issue at CAS
Meetings and Communications with CAS
Principles in Practice?
Questions We Still Ask Ourselves
Why This Letter?
What Can You Do?
Epilogue
Questions for Discussion and Reflection
Further Reading
References
Chapter Six
But What About the B? Elision of Bisexualities in Scholarship and Activisms on Sexuality
Questions for Discussion and Reflection
Further Reading
References
Chapter Seven
Reflections on Pronouns, Activists, and Funerals
Introduction
The Limits of Confession: Constituting the Settler Subject
Preferred Pronouns: Activists Speak and Centre Themselves
Beyond Binary Gender: Marginalizing Transsexuals?
Enter ""Trans People,"" Exit Trans Women
Privilege: But I Want it!
Reflections on ""Safe Space""
On Funerals
Conclusion
Questions for Discussion and Reflection
Further Reading
Notes
References
Conclusion
References