A Global History of Feminism Author: [UK] Lucy Delap Translator: Zhu Yun Publisher: Nanjing University Press

※A global history of feminism spanning 250 years and across all continents※

※Presenting the dreams and actions of various "feminists" in different times and spaces regarding equality and freedom※

History Today 2020 History Book of the Year | A sharp work by the winner of the Royal Historical Society Public History Award

This book is a cultural history work written by British historian Lucy Delap on the global development of feminism.

The author breaks the traditional Euro-American centrism model and approaches the topic from a global perspective. She focuses on keywords such as dreams, ideas, space, objects, appearance, emotions, sports, and singing, and depicts a global history of feminism that spans more than 200 years and all continents. The book explores the origins of different feminist dreams; discusses how patriarchy and other terms fully reflect the various gender patterns in human social organizations, thereby finding the theoretical sources of feminism; places feminism in the workplace and worship space, and explores the spatial issues of feminism; focuses on feminist objects, and highlights feminist material culture and visual culture through badges, posters, clothing and other daily necessities, and extends it to the "appearance" of women's clothing and fashion packaging; and also explores the various emotions caused by feminism.

The author not only presents feminist views and feminist movements from different periods and regions, but also pays close attention to the lives of individual women who have fought for gender inequality. By amplifying the once ignored and submerged voices and drawing a global picture of feminism, this book shows us how a rich relationship with the history of feminism will inspire the common future of mankind. It also allows us to see that the ultimate pursuit of feminism should be a world where people of different races, religions, genders and orientations can live happily.

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【Recommended by media and celebrities】

Among the many feminist histories, Delap's narrative is unique. "A Global History of Feminism" recreates feminist organizations, movements, activists, and obstacles that are familiar or unfamiliar to people with a global perspective and in a new way. Open a chapter at random and enjoy the free flow of rich ideas on every page. - Bonnie G. Smith, expert in women's and gender history

Delap uses the concept of feminism to show how feminist activists have politicized gender injustice across 250 years and six continents. She focuses on the blind spots and complicity of many feminist ventures, and recognizes the close relationships and resonances between different generations, regions, and genders.

—Nancy A. Hewitt, expert in gender history and feminist studies

DeLapp has written a concise and detailed history of the various feminist movements that took shape in the twentieth century, giving this diverse history a common vision and voice without imposing a false unity. —Carla Jones, associate professor at the University of Colorado Boulder

This is a rich and wide-ranging account of the global history of feminism, inventively using a range of sources to explore the rich, diverse and radical roots of feminist movements across time and space. This book is a triumph of feminist historiography, showing the myriad different ways in which women’s freedom has been imagined around the world – and that it cannot be captured in a simple slogan on a T-shirt. -Jennifer Thomson, lecturer at the University of Bath

This is an extraordinary and fascinating history of the global struggle against gender inequality. This book brings to life the various struggles of feminists not only through their ideas and movements, but also through their dreams, songs, anger and the material dimensions of their movements - their bloomers, badges and veils, their sanctuaries, workplaces and ambiguous in-betweens. - Hannah Dawson, Associate Professor at King's College London

Delap's chapters form a journey through time and space in a circular rather than linear way - like a merry-go-round, the ups and downs are as important as the forward progress. Each chapter finds its own path geographically and in time - a grand performance that includes speculum and headscarf, window smashing and singing, bloomers and fanzines. However, Delap is not in praise. She aims to write a critical history, evaluating the pros and cons of various methods and strategies. She is clear that feminist activities cannot eliminate inequalities caused by class, race, colonialism or citizenship. The dreams of some women are the nightmares of other women... Delap examines several similar thought-provoking events to warn contemporary and future feminists to be careful not to repeat the mistakes of the past. - "New York Review of Books"

Delap showcases feminists who have been omitted from the historical heritage of the women's movement, some of whom were disqualified from participating in the movement from the outset... A Global History of Feminism explores the connotations of the concept of "feminism" itself and gives readers the opportunity to reflect on the complexity of the feminist movement, the divisions within feminism caused by an obvious Western-centric perspective, and the experiences of forgotten and neglected feminists. This book enriches the discourse on social construction, highlighting the importance of inclusion and the bias that inevitably results from adopting a single perspective. Putting aside the discussion of feminism, Delap's thematic approach also reminds us that there are more unheard voices than the ones we can hear - this is an important lesson in itself. - International Journal of Women's Studies

A comprehensive challenge to feminist history... This book meticulously documents the deep divisions in feminism and its inherent racial, gender, and class hierarchies... The book's main contribution to critical feminist global and transnational history is that it reveals feminist models in creative and often unexpected ways... A Global History of Feminism successfully overturns existing historiography. Delap's approach to feminist thought and movements, rather than chronologically, opens up an innovative new starting point for further research and exploration. - H-Soz-Kult (an important online communication and information service platform for historians in the German-speaking world)

【About the Author】

Lucy Delap is a British historian and a research fellow at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge University. Her research interests are in modern British history and gender history. She has written many groundbreaking works on feminism, domestic service, and the relationship between religion and masculinity on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2008, she won the Women's History Network Award for The Feminist Avant-Garde. In 2018, she won the Royal Historical Society Public History Award (Public Debate and Policy) for her research on child sexual abuse.

Translator’s Profile

Zhu Yun is from Yangzhou, Jiangsu. He is an associate professor at the School of Foreign Languages, Yangzhou University, a doctor of literature, and a visiting scholar at Pennsylvania State University. He has translated monographs such as Sexual Desire: A Philosophical Study (Nanjing University Press, 2016), The Heart of Saul Bellow: Memoirs of an Eldest Son (Nanjing University Press, 2018), and DH Lawrence: A Biography (Nanjing University Press, 2020).