Contested public spheres

More about the book

Researching the global everyday of women activists reveals a significant gap in the literature on globalisation, which often assumes its impact without empirical evidence. This study, based on six months of research in Malaysia in 2004, addresses this deficiency by exploring the "global everyday" of civil society actors. It examines how women activists from various branches of the movement selectively appropriate, transform, and create global meanings, integrating them into local practices. The methodological approach combines globalisation research with ethnography, a strategy employed by various scholars. Burawoy and his team have crafted a complex framework that emphasizes the experiential dimensions of globalisation, aiming to produce a "grounded globalisation" or "perspectives on globalisations from below." This approach is particularly effective, as it repositions the global within the local context, highlighting their mutual constitution through experiences of globalisation as "forces, connections, and imaginations." By focusing on the lived experiences of women activists, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of how globalisation is navigated and reshaped at the grassroots level.