Feminist Solidarities and Beauvoir's Ethics of Generosity: Reflection on Muslim Women's Movements in India

This paper engages with the grounds of political solidarity, especially in a world fraught with contesting identities. It is divided into four sections. It begins by situating Muslim women amidst the social and political situation in India and demonstrates that the voices raised in their support have often silenced and, at times, even harmed them further. By bringing in Frantz Fanon’s and Paulo Freire’s work, it exposes two ways in which such solidarity is often misplaced or even dangerous. The second and third sections engage with the possibility of offering solidarity that avoids such tropes. In the second section, I engage with Simone de Beauvoir’s presentation of generosity and demonstrate it as a ground for genuine solidarity. Next, I revisit Beauvoir’s support for and engagement with the trial of Djamila Boupacha and question whether it demonstrates an act of solidarity based on generosity, and whether it avoided or bypassed the dangers highlighted by Fanon and Freire. In the final section, I return to the situation of Indian Muslim women and ask how “the other Indians” can offer such generous solidarity.