This book brings transnational feminist theory and criticism together with women’s art practices to discuss the connections between aesthetics, gender and identity in a global world; shows the movement of women globally rarely matches dominant models of global exchange; traces their eccentric experiences of the effects of globalization.

Editorial introduction: Ec/centric affinities: Locations, aesthetics, experiences –Marsha Meskimmon and Dorothy Rowe
1 Gendering the multitude: feminist politics, globalisation and art history – Angela Dimitrakaki
2 Women, art, migration and diaspora: The turn to art in the social sciences and the ‘new’ sociology of art? – Maggie O’Neill
3 Finding a different way home – Misha Myers in conversation with Tracey Warr
4 On foreign discomfort: Magdalena makeup live art event – Lena Simic
5 ‘How we live today …’ – Florence Ayisi in dialogue with Mo White
6 Here, there and in-between: South African women and the diasporic condition – Marion Arnold
7 Image-making with Jeanne Duval in mind: Photoworks by Maud Sulter, 1989-2002 – Deborah Cherry
8 Alison Lapper Pregnant: Embodied geographies, post-imperial identities and public sculpture in London’s Trafalgar Square – Rosemary Betterton
9 Diasporic unwrappings – Lubaina Himid in conversation with Jane Beckett
10 A Burd’s eye view: Paula Rego’s Abortion series – Michele Waugh
11 Testing the limits: Oreet Ashery in conversation with Dorothy Rowe
Index

Contemporary art is embedded within the structures that characterise globalization – from the transnational circulation of artworks as commodities to the cross-cultural exchange of images, objects and ideas – and the multiple and mobile territories described by these structures are always, already gendered. Women, the Arts and Globalization: Eccentric experience is the first anthology to address these interlinked issues, bringing transnational feminist theory and criticism together with women’s art practices in a coherent and sustained discussion of the legacy and trajectory of aesthetics, gender and identity on a global scale. The essays in Women, the Arts and Globalization demonstrate that women in the arts are rarely positioned at the centre of the art market, and the movement of women globally (as travelers or migrants, empowered artists/scholars or exiled practitioners), rarely corresponds with the dominant models of global exchange. Rather, contemporary women’s art practices provide a fascinating instance of women’s eccentric experiences of the myriad effects of globalization. Women, the Arts and Globalization offers a multifaceted approach to this topic, from a variety of perspectives and positions; some texts argue for paradigm shifts in disciplines, fields or methodologies, others provide first-hand accounts of making art as a border-crossing activity. Some essays take a dialogic, interview form, whilst others use a micro-level mode of ‘close reading’ to demonstrate how particular works of art can articulate transnational and gendered aesthetics. The book is relevant to artists, art historians, feminist theorists and humanities scholars interested in the impact of globalization on culture in the broadest sense.