Chandra Talpade Mohanty is a prominent postcolonial feminist theorist. She became well-known after the publication of her influential essay, "Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses" in 1986. In this essay, Mohanty articulates a critique of the political project of Western feminism in its discursive construction of the category of the "Third World woman" as a hegemonic entity. Mohanty states that Western feminisms have tended to gloss over the differences between Southern women, but that the experience of oppression is incredibly diverse, and contingent on geography, history, and culture.
In 2003, Chandra Mohanty released her book, "Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity". In this work, she argues for a bridging of theory and praxis, and the personal and the political. Major themes addressed include the politics of difference, transnational solidarity building, and anticapitalist struggle against globalization.
Mohanty is orginally from Mumbai, India. She holds a Ph.D. and Master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as well as a Master's degree and a bachelor's degree from the University of Delhi in India. At present, she is professor of women's studies at Syracuse University.
ChandraMohanty became widely known and celebrated (as well as critiqued) after her essay "Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses," which was originally published in 1986.
Mohanty retains hope in the possibility of building feminist solidarities across national, racial, class, and sexual divides and suggests that a way forward here is to understand and theorize how the lives of both privileged and marginalized women are interconnected through global processes.
While Mohanty is not unaware that certain contradictions inherent to capitalism lead to the creation of opportunities as well as constraints, and though she continues to view the academy as an important site of political struggle and change, she is nevertheless highly critical of the commoditization of higher education.
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