Remembering Women's Activism

Sharon Crozier-De Rosa & Vera Mackie (Routledge, 2019)

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Remembering Women's Activism examines the intersections between gender politics and acts of remembrance by tracing the cultural memories of women who are known for their actions.

Memories are constantly being reinterpreted and are profoundly shaped by gender. This book explores the gendered dimensions of history and memory through nation-based and transnational case studies from the Asia-Pacific region and Anglophone world. Chapters consider how different forms of women's activism have been remembered: the efforts of suffragists in Britain, the USA and Australia to document their own histories and preserve their memory; Constance Markievicz and Qiu Jin, two early twentieth-century political activists in Ireland and China respectively; the struggles of women workers; and the movement for redress of those who have suffered militarized sexual abuse. The book concludes by reflecting on the mobilization of memories of activism in the present.

Transnational in scope and with reference to both state-centred and organic acts of remembering, including memorial practices, physical sites of memory, popular culture and social media, Remembering Women's Activism is an ideal volume for all students of gender and history, the history of feminism, and the relationship between memory and history.

Select reviews

1.       Remembering Women’s Activism (Routledge 2019):

1.1.    Mary McAuliffe, Women’s History Review, published online 11 February 2021

‘This is a fascinating book on the gendered nature of memory, of museums, exhibitions, statues and archives, indeed anyone interested in the public impact of these spaces in terms of what is and isn’t remembered, and how and why it is or is not remembered in certain ways, should read this work. The underlying message is the need to combine our academic work with activism; women scholars who work on women need to make sure memorials are created for and to women. As the authors note ‘putting the history of women’s activism on record can provide resources for future political campaigns’. The transnational nature of both books will introduce the reader to histories which will serve to broaden and deepen research and understanding. Both books are excellent additions to women’s and gender history, as well as vital readings for our understanding of gender, shame, emotion, memory and memorialisation.’

1.2.    Professor Marilyn Lake, Australian Historical Studies, 50:3 (2019) pp.390-391

This is an ‘excellent new book’.

‘this book is itself a triumph of feminist activism in the form of the very best academic scholarship. It is impeccable in its research, documentation and lucid prose and will become a valuable reference for students, researchers and teachers and other readers interested in international women’s history and more general questions of memory and history’.

‘Remembering Women’s Activism is a stellar addition to international women’s history and an important contribution to our understanding of the complex relationship between memory, history and politics.’

1.3.    Karen Hunt, Histoire sociale/Social history, online July 2020

‘So, Remembering Women’s Activism contains inspiring stories of women’s activism showing how the continuing acts of remembering, forgetting, and misremembering are all saturated with gender. By focusing directly on the processes and results of memorializing, we can also see where intersectional erasures occur, particularly around race. Nevertheless, the authors show how putting the history of women’s activism on record can provide resources for future political campaigns. This is the kind of history and memory-making we need.’

1.4.    Pat Thane, Birkbeck College, London, published in Cercles, July 2020

‘Women throughout the world have been active campaigners on very many issues for over a century and many of these campaigns continue. Some past activists are remembered and memorialised in diverse ways. Others are not. This book is an innovative exploration of this memorialisation, or lack of it, and what shapes it.’

‘This book demonstrates above all how remembering past activists keeps contemporary activism alive and visible and how the memories, positive and negative, are shaped by contemporary preoccupations.’

1.5.    Margaret Allen, Professor Emerita, Gender Studies, University of Adelaide, Australia

‘This richly illustrated and documented volume is an important work of history, memory and museum and cultural studies. Determinedly transnational and cross-cultural it explores the ways in which women’s historical activism has been and is being memorialized, ignored, contested, reframed and re-interpreted. Its fresh new approach makes it an indispensable work, particularly for historians of gender, and for public historians and curators.’

1.6.    Eileen Boris, Hull Professor and Distinguished Professor of Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara and President, International Federation for Research in Women’s History (2015–2020)

‘Tracing the embodiment of memory in monuments, marches, money, media and history itself, Crozier-De Rosa and Mackie illuminate powerful themes in transnational women’s and gender history: struggles for suffrage and revolution and against exploitative working conditions and wartime sexual violence. Grounded in case studies from the Anglophone world and East and Southeast Asia, Remembering Women’s Activism complicates gendered constructions of the past. It shows how stories of victims, survivors and shapers serve national as well as feminist ends.’

1.7.    June Purvis, Emeritus Professor of Women’s and Gender History, University of Portsmouth

‘An illuminating and landmark book that explores the cultural memories of women activists in a range of fields and different countries. Timely, informative and highly readable, this book will be enjoyed by all seeking to understand gendered dimensions of our past.’

1.8.    Bethan Johnson, LSE Review of Books, 13 February 2019

‘Crozier-De Rosa and Mackie also do a commendable job elucidating the intricacies of archives, museums and exhibitions as well as the designing of statues for readers.’ Regarding the fiscal politics of memory: ‘For those interested in remembrance history or students learning about archives for the first time, this element of the work is invaluable.’ ‘Perhaps the most subtly impressive element of the book may be Crozier-De Rosa and Mackie’s sustained, somewhat underlying, message about the augmentation of women’s places in history when left to men, be they in politics or in academia.’