Women's Studies for the Future: Foundations, Interrogations, Politics
edited by Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy by Agatha Meryl Beins
Rutgers University Press, 2005 Paper: 978-0-8135-3619-4 | eISBN: 978-0-8135-4120-4 | Cloth: 978-0-8135-3618-7 Library of Congress Classification HQ1180.W6765 2005 Dewey Decimal Classification 305.4072
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Established as an academic field in the 1970s, women’s studies is a relatively young but rapidly growing area of study. Not only has the number of scholars working in this subject expanded exponentially, but women’s studies has become institutionalized, offering graduate degrees and taking on departmental status in many colleges and universities. At the same time, this field—formed in the wake of the feminist movement—is finding itself in a precarious position in what is now often called a “post-feminist” society. This raises challenging issues for faculty, students, and administrators. How must the field adjust its goals and methods to continue to affect change in the future?
Bringing together essays by newcomers as well as veterans to the field, this essential volume addresses timely questions including:
Without a unitary understanding of the subject, woman, what is the focus of women’s studies?
How can women’s studies fulfill the promise of interdisciplinarity?
What is the continuing place of activism in women’s studies?
What are the best ways to think about, teach, and act upon the intersections of race, class, gender, disability, nation, and sexuality?
Offering innovative models for research and teaching and compelling new directions for action, Women’s Studies for the Future ensures the continued relevance and influence of this developing field.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy is a professor in the women's studies department at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Agatha Beins has an M.A. in women's studies and is pursuing MFA at Eastern Washington University.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
Liz Kennedy and Agatha Beins
Part 1: What is the Subject of Women's Studies?
1. Beyond Dualisms: Some Thoughts about the Future of Women's Studies
Bonnie Zimmerman
2. The Possibility of Women's Studies
Robyn Wiegman
3. Whither Black Women's Studies: An Interview, 1997 & 2004
Beverly-Guy Sheftall and Evelynn M. Hammonds
4. "Under Western Eyes" Revisited: Feminist Solidarity through Anti-Capitalist Struggles
Chandra Talpade Mohanty
5. What Does Queer Studies Offer Women's Studies? The Problem and Promise of Instability
Nan Alamilla Boyd
Part 2: How Does Women's Studies Negotiate the Politics of Alliance and the Politics of Difference?
6. Where in the Transnational World are U.S. Women of Color?
Sandra Soto
7. Different Differences: Theory and the Practice of Women's Studies
Janet R. Jakobsen
8. Women's Studies and Chicana Studies: Learning from the Past, Looking to the Future
Monica Brown and Miroslava Ch vez-García
9. Feminism, Anti-Semitism, Politics: Does Jewish Women's Studies Have a Future?
Esther Fuchs
10. Beyond Pocahontas, Princess, and Squaw: Investigating Traditional "Feminism"
Mary Jo Tippeconnic Fox and Sheilah E. Nicholas
Part 3: How Can Women's Studies Fulfill the Promise of Interdisciplinarity?
11. Disciplining Feminist Futures? "Undisciplined" Reflections about the Women's Studies Ph.D.
Vivian M. May
12. Towards a New Feminist Internationalism
Miranda Joseph, Priti Ramamurthy, and Alys Eve Weinbaum
13. Laboratories of Our Own: New Productions of Gender and Science
Banu Subramaniam
Part 4: What is the Continuing Place of Activism in Women's Studies?
14. Women's Studies, Neoliberalism, and the Paradox of the "Political"
David Rubin
15. The Institutionalization of Women's and Gender Studies in Mexico: Achievements and Challenges
Lorenia Parada-Ampudia
16. Practicing What We Teach
Julia Balén
Part 5: How Has Feminist Pedagogy Responded to Changing Social Conditions?
17. Antifeminism and the Classroom
Lise Gotell and Barbara Crow
18. Imagining Our Way Together
Inez Martinez
19. Distance Education: A Manifesto for Women's Studies
Laura Briggs and Kari Boyd McBride
Contributors
Index
Women's Studies for the Future: Foundations, Interrogations, Politics
edited by Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy by Agatha Meryl Beins
Rutgers University Press, 2005 Paper: 978-0-8135-3619-4 eISBN: 978-0-8135-4120-4 Cloth: 978-0-8135-3618-7
Established as an academic field in the 1970s, women’s studies is a relatively young but rapidly growing area of study. Not only has the number of scholars working in this subject expanded exponentially, but women’s studies has become institutionalized, offering graduate degrees and taking on departmental status in many colleges and universities. At the same time, this field—formed in the wake of the feminist movement—is finding itself in a precarious position in what is now often called a “post-feminist” society. This raises challenging issues for faculty, students, and administrators. How must the field adjust its goals and methods to continue to affect change in the future?
Bringing together essays by newcomers as well as veterans to the field, this essential volume addresses timely questions including:
Without a unitary understanding of the subject, woman, what is the focus of women’s studies?
How can women’s studies fulfill the promise of interdisciplinarity?
What is the continuing place of activism in women’s studies?
What are the best ways to think about, teach, and act upon the intersections of race, class, gender, disability, nation, and sexuality?
Offering innovative models for research and teaching and compelling new directions for action, Women’s Studies for the Future ensures the continued relevance and influence of this developing field.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy is a professor in the women's studies department at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Agatha Beins has an M.A. in women's studies and is pursuing MFA at Eastern Washington University.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
Liz Kennedy and Agatha Beins
Part 1: What is the Subject of Women's Studies?
1. Beyond Dualisms: Some Thoughts about the Future of Women's Studies
Bonnie Zimmerman
2. The Possibility of Women's Studies
Robyn Wiegman
3. Whither Black Women's Studies: An Interview, 1997 & 2004
Beverly-Guy Sheftall and Evelynn M. Hammonds
4. "Under Western Eyes" Revisited: Feminist Solidarity through Anti-Capitalist Struggles
Chandra Talpade Mohanty
5. What Does Queer Studies Offer Women's Studies? The Problem and Promise of Instability
Nan Alamilla Boyd
Part 2: How Does Women's Studies Negotiate the Politics of Alliance and the Politics of Difference?
6. Where in the Transnational World are U.S. Women of Color?
Sandra Soto
7. Different Differences: Theory and the Practice of Women's Studies
Janet R. Jakobsen
8. Women's Studies and Chicana Studies: Learning from the Past, Looking to the Future
Monica Brown and Miroslava Ch vez-García
9. Feminism, Anti-Semitism, Politics: Does Jewish Women's Studies Have a Future?
Esther Fuchs
10. Beyond Pocahontas, Princess, and Squaw: Investigating Traditional "Feminism"
Mary Jo Tippeconnic Fox and Sheilah E. Nicholas
Part 3: How Can Women's Studies Fulfill the Promise of Interdisciplinarity?
11. Disciplining Feminist Futures? "Undisciplined" Reflections about the Women's Studies Ph.D.
Vivian M. May
12. Towards a New Feminist Internationalism
Miranda Joseph, Priti Ramamurthy, and Alys Eve Weinbaum
13. Laboratories of Our Own: New Productions of Gender and Science
Banu Subramaniam
Part 4: What is the Continuing Place of Activism in Women's Studies?
14. Women's Studies, Neoliberalism, and the Paradox of the "Political"
David Rubin
15. The Institutionalization of Women's and Gender Studies in Mexico: Achievements and Challenges
Lorenia Parada-Ampudia
16. Practicing What We Teach
Julia Balén
Part 5: How Has Feminist Pedagogy Responded to Changing Social Conditions?
17. Antifeminism and the Classroom
Lise Gotell and Barbara Crow
18. Imagining Our Way Together
Inez Martinez
19. Distance Education: A Manifesto for Women's Studies
Laura Briggs and Kari Boyd McBride
Contributors
Index