Beijing 1949: Elisabeth B. Armstrong on the most consequential anti-colonial feminist conference that you've never heard of

EPISODE 1371: In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to the author of BURY THE CORPSE OF COLONIALISM, Elisabeth B. Armstrong about the 1949 Asian Women's Conference in Beijing - the most consequential anti-colonial feminist conference that you've never heard of

Elisabeth Armstrong teaches courses on feminist political praxis, with a focus on transnational feminist movements seeking social, economic and environmental transformation. Her courses include Marxist feminism, Women, Money and Transnationalism, decolonial feminist archives and gendered movements about the land, food and survival. Many of her courses are community-based research courses linked to regional and international community movements for the basic needs of land, food, labor, and embodied self-determination.On International Women’s Day, 2023, University of California Press releases her third book called Bury the Corpse of Colonialism: The Revolutionary Feminist Conference of 1949. This book provides an intimate look at the 1949 Asian Women’s Conference, the movements it drew from, and how it shaped feminist anticolonial movements around the world. In 1949, revolutionary women 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. Through the lives and movements 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.

Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.