Mohanty, "'Under Western Eyes' Revisited"

I attribute some of the readings and misunderstandings of the essay to the triumphal rise of postmodernism in the U.S. academy in the past three decades. Although I have never called myself a “postmodernist,” some reflection on why my ideas have been assimilated under this label is important. In fact, one reason to revisit “Under Western Eyes” at this time is my desire to point to this postmodernist appropriation. I am misread when I am interpreted as being against all forms of generalization and as arguing for difference over commonalities. This misreading occurs in the context of a hegemonic postmodernist discourse that labels as “totalizing” all systemic connections and emphasizes only the mutability and constructedness of identities and social structures. (504)

In other words, this discussion allows me to reemphasize the way that differences are never just “differences.” In knowing differences and particularities, we can better see the connections and commonalities because no border or boundary is ever complete or rigidly determining. The challenge is to see how differences allow us to explain the connections and border crossings better and more accurately, how specifying difference allows us to theorize universal concerns more fully. It is this intellectual move that allows for my concern for women of different communities and identities to build coalitions and solidarities across borders. (505)