An intimate look at the 1949 Asian Women’s Conference, the
movements it drew from, and its influence on feminist anticolonialism
around the world.
In 1949, revolutionary activists from Asia hosted a conference in
Beijing that gathered together their comrades from around the world.
The Asian Women’s Conference developed a new political strategy,
demanding that women from occupying colonial nations contest
imperialism with the same dedication as women whose countries were
occupied. Bury the Corpse of Colonialism shows how activists
and movements create a revolutionary theory over time and through
struggle—in this case, by launching a strategy for anti-imperialist
feminist internationalism.
At the heart of this book are two stories. The first describes how
the 1949 conference came to be, how it was experienced, and what it
produced. The second follows the delegates home. What movements did
they represent? Whose voices did they carry? How did their struggles
hone their praxis? By examining the lives of more than a dozen AWC
participants, Bury the Corpse of Colonialism traces the vital
differences at the heart of internationalist solidarity for women’s
emancipation in a world structured through militarism, capitalism,
patriarchy, and the seeming impossibility of justice.
