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Postcolonial feminism is a form of feminism that developed as a response to the fact that feminism seemed to focus solely on the experiences of women in Western cultures. Postcolonial feminism seeks to account for the way that racism and the long-lasting political, economic, and cultural effects of colonialism affect non-white, non-Western women in the postcolonial world. Postcolonial feminism originated as a critique of feminist theorists in developed countries. The critique points out the universalizing tendencies of mainstream feminist ideas and argues that women living in non-Western countries are misrepresented. Postcolonial feminism argues that by using the term "woman" as a universal group, women are then only defined by their gender and not by social class, race, ethnicity, or sexual preference. Postcolonial feminists also work to incorporate the ideas of indigenous and other Third World feminist movements into mainstream Western feminism. Third World feminism stems from the idea that feminism in Third World countries is not imported from the First World, but originates from internal ideologies and socio-cultural factors. Postcolonial feminism has strong ties with indigenous movements and wider postcolonial theory. It is also closely affiliated with black feminism because both black feminists and postcolonial feminists argue that mainstream Western feminism fails to adequately account for racial differences. Postcolonial feminism, black feminism, and other racially-conscious strands of feminism have struggled to add racial and ethnic differences among women to the feminist dialogue.〔 Postcolonial feminism is sometimes criticized, mostly as a response from mainstream feminism, which argues, for example, that postcolonial feminism weakens the wider feminist movement by dividing it.〔 ==History== The history of modern feminist movements can be divided into three waves. When First-wave feminism originated in the late nineteenth century, it arose as a movement among white, middle-class women in the developed world who were reasonably able to access both resources and education. Thus, the first wave of feminism almost exclusively addressed the issues of these women who were relatively well off. The first-wavers focused on absolute rights such as suffrage and overturning other barriers to legal gender equality. This population did not experience the realities of women of color, who felt the force of racial oppression, or economically disadvantaged women, who were forced out of the home and into blue-collar jobs. Second-wave feminism inspired women to look at the sexist power struggles that existed within their personal lives and broadened the conversation to include issues within the workplace, issues of sexuality, family, and reproductive rights. So feminist theory during the first century of feminism failed to account for differences between women in terms of race and class—it only addressed the needs and issues of the white, Western women who had started the movement. Within the last twenty years, postcolonial feminism emerged as part of the third wave of feminism in tandem with many other racially based feminist movements in order to reflect the diverse nature of each woman's lived experience. By acknowledging the differences among diverse groups of women, postcolonial feminism addresses what some call the oversimplification of Western feminism as solely a resistance against sexist oppression. Postcolonial feminism, in contrast, also relates gender issues to other spheres of influence within society.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「postcolonial feminism」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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