ABSTRACT

This chapter proposes a shift in how to understand the notion of ‘resilience’, away from common framings in terms of systems, to be reframed here rather in terms of resilient subjects. The chapter reflects on feminist tactics for building resilient networks and imagined communities (as theorised by Chandra Talpade Mohanty 2003 ) which counteract societal challenges such as political, economic and social injustice produced by global capitalism and patriarchal power structures. The chapter foregrounds three examples relevant to feminist practices in art and architecture that have built imagined communities. We discuss the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo (initiated in Buenos Aires in 1977), the activist art project The International Dinner Party (organised by artist Suzanne Lacy in 1979), and walks and research of the Precarias a la Deriva (initiated in Madrid in 2002). All three examples emanate from groups that share experiences and demonstrate an ability to connect and build up networks and communities. Drawing on Chandra Talpade Mohanty’s work on transnational feminism, we connect her concept of ‘imagined communities’ and ‘communities of resistance’ with the notion of emerging resilient subjects, which counteract representational regimes and hegemonic power relations within globalised capitalism. We aim to understand how resilient subjects, through their transgressive practices, build lasting alignments between the personal, the social, the public and the domestic.