Beyond Discourse: A Genealogical Analysis of an Intersubjective Transformation Process of Gender

Abstract

This article presents a genealogical analysis of a specific process of transformation of gender. It analyses the shifts of a group of Spanish working-class women in the context of the final years of Franco's dictatorship and the transition to democracy. These women took part in the activities of the so-called Centros de Promoción de la Mujer y Cultura Popular [Centres for Women's Promotion and Popular Culture]. I identify the elements of the transformation processes through in-depth interviews with a sample of women. Through these narrations and the documents of the Centres I show the road that goes from a state of domination (in FOUCAULT's words) to a more flexible and mobile situation in which not only are the practical possibilities for these women wider, but also we can witness the transformation of the institution itself. The analysis is made with a FOUCAULTian toolbox, using especially FOUCAULT's analysis of power, his theoretical construction of practices of self and the link he posits between such practices and identity games of truth. The analysis shows the intersubjective nature of the processes and of the practices involved in such transformations. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs070295