DEFINING FASCISM AND FUNDAMENTALISM In the following literature review, we present diverse feminist interpretations and analyses of fascism and fundamentalism from various parts of the global South – with a focus on Asia. In this paper, we use the terms “fundamentalisms” and “fascisms” as plural terms because there are myriad manifestations of these concepts. While there are some shared characteristics that might be woven together, there is a need to show the distinct strategies and types of organizing that fundamentalist and fascist forces deploy in various contexts. Southern feminists mounted some of the most important critiques of European and Western colonialism, which had profoundly shaped their regions, many becoming key figures in the world of ‘post-colonial’ criticism. However, they also had critiques of the anti-colonial nationalist projects from which many of their nation-states had been born. These nationalist movements were often presented as ‘revivalist’ projects centered around asserting hegemonic (or dominant) cultural identities and practices in defiance of Western colonialism, while these movements were themselves often exclusionary and often patriarchal. These nuanced strands of criticism often form the backbone of Asian feminist thinking on fundamentalisms and fascisms. Feminist organizing in Asia has given way to numerous ways of understanding ‘fundamentalism’; for example, the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) defines “fundamentalist” movements as distinct from others “in that the power they seek is absolute and in opposition to plurality, difference, debate or dissent.”10 Another APWLD report notes, “Fundamentalisms…refers to monolithic approaches adopted by movements in their quest for hegemony and political power, particularly through deployment of cultural, religious, ethnic, and nationalist discourses.”11 10 Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), “Our analysis on Patriarchy and G-F-M” https:// apwld.org/about-us/our-analysis-on-patriarchy-and-globalisation-fundamentalism-and-militarism/ 11 Mehra, M. (2008). FUNDAMENTALISMS IN ASIA-PACIFIC: TRENDS, IMPACT, CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES ASSERTING WOMEN’S RIGHTS. Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD). https://apwld.org/ wp-content/uploads/2014/07/fundamentalisms_final_pdf.pdf 13