Description
Book SynopsisSince the 1970s, Womens Studies has grown from a volunteerist political project to a full scale academic enterprise. This book assesses the present and future of the field, demonstrating how institutionalization has extended a vital, ongoing intellectual project for a generation of scholars and students.
Trade Review“
Women’s Studies on Its Own charts the course academic feminism has taken in the thirty years since the founding of the first Women’s Studies program. Even better, it offers a game plan for the next thirty years. It's indispensable.”—Cathy N. Davidson, coeditor of
No More Separate Spheres! A Next Wave American Studies Reader“As we enter something of a ‘post-identity politics’ era, one in which colleges and universities are increasingly held accountable for the kinds of knowledge they produce (and how and for whom),
Women's Studies on Its Own offers both a rationale for and a critical analysis of the state of the field.”—Jill Dolan, author of
Geographies of Learning: Theory and Practice, Activism and Performance"From the wealth of material and argument in the book, it is possible to construct a model women’s studies program. . . .
Women’s Studies on Its Own offers much to ‘change life.’. . ."
-- David L. Sterling * History: Reviews of New Books *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: On Location / Robyn Wiegman 1
I: Histories of the Present
Feminist Cultural Literacy: Translating Differences, Cannibal Options / Sneja Gunew 47
Transnational Practices and Interdisciplinary Feminist Scholarship: Refiguring Women's and Gender Studies / Caren Kaplan and Inderpal Grewal 66
Notes from the (Non)Field: Teaching and Theorizing Women of Color / Rachel Lee 82
The Progress of Gender: Whither "Women"? / Robyn Wiegman 106
The Present and Our Past: Simone de Beauvoir, Descartes, and Presentism in the Historiography of Feminism / Jane O. Newman 141
II: Institutional Pedagogies (A Forum)
Contending with Disciplinarity / Kathleen M. Blee 177
The Past in Our Present: Theorizing the Activist Project of Women's Studies / Bonnie Zimmerman 183
Rethinking Collectivity: Chicago Feminism, Athenian Democracy, and the Consumer University / Judith Kegan Gardiner 191
From Politics to Professionalism: Cultural Change in Women's Studies / Jean C. Robinson 202
Battle-Weary Feminists and Supercharged Grrls: Generational Differences and Outsider Status in Women's Studies Administration / Devoney Looser 211
Taking Account of Women's Studies / Diane Elam 218
Nice Work, If You Can Get It---and If You Can't? Building Women's Studies Without Tenure Lines / Robyn R. Warhol 224
The Politics of "Excellence" / Jeanette McVicker 233
III. In the Shadow of Capital
Academic Housework: Women's Studies and Second Shifting / Dale M. Bauer 245
(In)Different Spaces: Feminist Journeys from the Academy to the Mall / Sivagami Subbaraman 258
Analogy and Complicity: Women's Studies, Lesbian/Gay Studies, and Capitalism / Miranda Joseph 267
Institutional Success and Political Vulnerability: A Lesson in the Importance of Allies / Marcia Westkott 293
Life After Women's Studies: Graduates and the Labor Market / Maryanne Dever, Denise Cuthbert, and Lindsey Pollak 312
IV: Critical Classrooms
Strangers in the Classroom / Sabina Sawhney 341
"Women of Color in the U.S.": Pedagogical Reflections on the Politics of "the Name" / Minoo Moallem 368
Negotiating the Politics of Experiential Learning in Women's Studies: Lessons from the Community Action Project / Nancy A. Naples 383
What Should Every Women's Studies Major Know? Reflections on the Capstone Seminar / Susan Stanford Friedman 416
Subversive Couplings: On Antiracism and Postcolonialism in Graduate Women's Studies / Laura E. Donaldson, Anne Donadey, and Jael Silliman 438
Afterword: Continuity and Change in Women's Studies / Gloria Bowles 457
Bibliography: Locating Feminism 465
Contributors 491
Index 499
