Abstract

GRECA, María Inés La. A Practical Past for Feminism? Manifestos from the South to the North. Hist. graf [online]. 2023, n.60, pp.109-147.  Epub Feb 13, 2023. ISSN 1405-0927.  https://doi.org/10.48102/hyg.vi60.446.

This article reviews the notion of the practical past proposed by Hayden White, placing it in dialogue with the current context of academic and public debates motivated by the re-emergence of feminism as a social movement. From the textual interventions of feminist theorists and writers, I will consider whether they can be considered proposals of a practical past for the present mobilization. The aim will not only be to show the relevance of such notion to illuminate this context and its texts, but also to argue that the current feminist manifestos from the South and the North put forward narratives about the past that are cognitively responsible and necessary to account for a present of injustices, inequalities and violence that, as democratic societies, we should wish to counteract. I will show that the cognitive responsibility of these narratives can be specifically found in the way they acknowledge the difficulty of naming the subject of feminism, namely, the subject of the narrative they propose.

Keywords : Hayden White; Practical past; Feminism; Historical narrative; Cognitive responsibility.