Knowing Feminisms

On Academic Borders, Territories and Tribes

While scrutinizing the sometimes highly problematic forms feminismÆs presence within the academy can take, Knowing Feminisms looks at it as a source of new knowledge and new ways of working. The contributors, all well-known feminist academics, discuss the epistemological and ontological "borderlands" that feminisms inhabit withinùalthough "other" toùthe academy. This volume addresses such fundamentally important questions for feminist academics and students as: + Should feminists leave disciplines for WomenÆs Studies, or do the disciplines retain desirable qualities? + Is the idea of feminist pedagogy as "empowerment" actually one that de-skills? + Does the feminist transformation of some academic disciplines signify that these are no longer significant sites of knowledge/power? + Do the fundamental organizational features of disciplines and institutions depend on repressive means, or is it possible to transform these according to feminist principles? + Are some disciplines and types of institution particularly resistant to feminist ideas? + Is an intellectual "home" for feminism ever possible or desirable within academia, or is critical thinking best done from the margins? + Can WomenÆs Studies as an organizational presence within the university encompass dissenting positions on these foundational questions, or will it contain and control what can be said and by whom? These questions are rarely asked in such a concerted and thorough way as in Knowing Feminisms. The book will be essential reading for academics and students from across the social science.