Feminist Geneaologies, Colonial Legacies, Democratic Futures provides a feminist anaylsis of the questions of sexual and gender politics, economic and... cultural marginality, and anti-racist and anti-colonial practices both in the "West" and in the "Third World." This collection, edited by Jacqui Alexander and Chandra Talpade Mohanty, charts the underlying theoretical perspectives and organization practices of the different varieties of feminism that take on questions of colonialism, imperialism, and the repressive rule of colonial, post-colonial and advanced capitalist nation-states. It provides a comparative, relational, historically grounded conception of feminist praxis that differs markedly from the liberal pluralist, multicultural understanding that sheapes some of the dominant version of Euro-American feminism. As a whole, the collection poses a unique challenge to the naturalization of gender based in the experiences, histories and practices of Euro-American women.

"Succinctly locating three decades of innovative feminist epistemological challenges in relation to Western philosophy and sexual politics, [this book]... is a boldly erudite tour de force, invaluable and indispensable for specialist scholars and general readers alike."-Judith A. Allen, professor of gender studies and history, Indiana University "Feminist Inquiry accomplishes what many texts claim to, but few achieve, namely, a truly interdisciplinary approach. By explicating the philosophical, political, and empirical concerns that enliven feminist epistemology, Mary Hawkesworth provides a rich resource for anyone interested in answering the question 'how do feminists know?'"-Nancy A. Naples, author of Feminism and Method: Ethnography, Discourse Analysis, and Activist Research Over the past three decades, feminist scholars have rocked the foundation of academia by challenging long-established beliefs, contesting dominant research paradigms, and identifying new strategies of analysis. How are we to understand these feminist interventions? Do they capture a truth about race and gender that mainstream scholarship has missed? Do they provide important insights into the politics of knowledge? How do feminist uses of traditional research methods differ from their deployment by nonfeminist scholars? What is distinctive and innovative about feminist research? Feminist Inquiry provides scholars and students with a comprehensive guide to methodological issues within feminist scholarship. Mary Hawkesworth presents lucid introductions to key philosophical debates about the nature of knowledge, an original account of feminist scholarship's contributions to these debates, and a sophisticated assessment of the analytical tools that feminist scholars have created to improve understandings of the world. Drawing upon contentious debates concerning the incidence of rape, public support for reproductive rights, affirmative action, and welfare reform, Hawkesworth demonstrates how seemingly abstract questions about the nature of knowledge have palpable effects on the lives of contemporary women and men. Feminist Inquiry makes epistemological debates-previously the exclusive preserve of philosophers-accessible to a wider audience, and demonstrates the practical and academic importance of these issues. Mary Hawkesworth is a professor of women's and gender studies at Rutgers University and the editor of Signs, Journal of Women in Culture and Society.

Consisting almost entirely of new essays specially prepared for this volume, Feminist Interpretations of Hannah Arendt illuminates the diversity of... contemporary feminisms while also generating new and suggestive readings of Hannah Arendt's political thought. The contributing authors' shared interest in Arendt provides a ground upon which to work out their disagreements regarding feminist theory and practice. At the same time, their shared commitment to some brand of feminism leads them to engage Arendt on an unusually wide array of issues, such as gender, sexuality, the body, politics, friendship, solidarity, identity, nationalism, and revolution.Recent developments in feminist theory and practice have prompted a reconsideration of Arendt that includes a critical reevaluation of earlier feminist judgments of her work. From feminist perspectives that interrogate, politicize, and historicize--rather than simply redeploy--categories like "woman," "identity," or "experience," Arendt's well-known hostility to feminism and her critical stance toward identitarian and essentialist definitions of "woman" begin to look more like an advantage than a liability. Arendt's famous reluctance to identify herself as a woman and to address women's issues looks less like a personal problem of male-identification and more like a political stand that resists the reach of a symbolic order that seeks to define, categorize, and stabilize her in terms of one essential, unriven, and always known identity.Thus, the volume's authors move beyond feminism's traditional concern with the "woman question" to ask, further, what contemporary feminisms might learn from Arendt's conceptions of politics, action, and identity.

Feminist Issues positions women’s issues at the forefront of Canadian concerns.  Authors explore the range and diversity of contemporary feminist... perspectives as seen through the lens of race, class, sexuality, disability, and poverty. Each chapter addresses questions and social problems that have received little attention in Canadian writing. The editor, Nancy Mandell, has an excellent and widely-known reputation in the areas of women’s and gender studies, and this collection offers a forum for all of the leading researchers and educators in Canada.  The result is an innovative, challenging, and comprehensive survey of Canadian feminist issues today.

This coursebook introduces students to feminist jurisprudence. The first three chapters develop the historical range of feminist theories. Subsequent... chapters examine topics such as violence, reproduction, intimate relationships, children, employment, and education. Extensive readings, cases, and text notes encourage detailed, rigorous analysis and critical thinking.

Attuned to the social contexts within which laws are created, feminist lawyers, historians, and activists have long recognized the discontinuities and... contradictions that lie at the heart of efforts to transform the law in ways that fully serve women’s interests. At its core, the nascent field of feminist legal history is driven by a commitment to uncover women’s legal agency and how women, both historically and currently, use law to obtain individual and societal empowerment.Feminist Legal History represents feminist legal historians’ efforts to define their field, by showcasing historical research and analysis that demonstrates how women were denied legal rights, how women used the law proactively to gain rights, and how, empowered by law, women worked to alter the law to try to change gendered realities. Encompassing two centuries of American history, thirteen original essays expose the many ways in which legal decisions have hinged upon ideas about women or gender as well as the ways women themselves have intervened in the law, from Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s notion of a legal class of gender to the deeply embedded inequities involved in Ledbetter v. Goodyear, a 2007 Supreme Court pay discrimination case.Contributors: Carrie N. Baker, Felice Batlan, Tracey Jean Boisseau, Eileen Boris, Richard H. Chused, Lynda Dodd, Jill Hasday, Gwen Hoerr Jordan, Maya Manian, Melissa Murray, Mae C. Quinn, Margo Schlanger, Reva Siegel, Tracy A. Thomas, and Leti Volpp

At long last, the complex field of feminist legal theory is presented in accessible, teachable form by two of its experts, Nancy Levit and Robert R. M.... Verchick. In this outstanding primer, the authors introduce the diverse strands of feminist legal theory and the array of substantive legal issues relevant to women's and gender studies. The book centers on feminist legal theories—including equal treatment theory, cultural feminism, dominance theory, critical race feminism, lesbian feminism, postmodern feminism, and ecofeminism. The authors also address feminist legal methods, such as consciousness raising and storytelling.The primer demonstrates the ways feminist legal theory operates in real-life contexts, including domestic violence, reproductive rights, workplace discrimination, education, sports, pornography, and global issues of gender. Levit and Verchick highlight a sweeping range of cutting edge topics at the intersection of law and gender, such as single sex schools, women in the military, abortion, same sex marriage, date rape, and the international trafficking in women and girls.At its core, Feminist Legal Theory shows the importance of the role of law and feminist legal theory in shaping contemporary gender issues.

This unique text offers a discussion of one of the most important movements in legal scholarship today: feminist legal theory. The first of two volumes,... "Foundations" examines theoretical issues about the interaction between law and gender. The second volume will explore the application of feminist legal theory to specific substantive areas of the law, such as criminal law, family law, employment law, and the legal profession. In this first volume, thirty-eight articles by distinguished legal scholars and feminists address issues of equality, difference, separate spheres, essentialism, legal methodology, and theories of law. The essays, published in widely dispersed legal publications, are thematically arranged, with introductions by the editor, to provide a text for students, a convenient source for scholars and policy makers, and a comprehensive introduction for general readers. D. Kelly Weisberg is Professor of Law at Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. She has published several other books, including "Child, Family and State: Cases and Materials on Children and the Law" (co-authored with Robert Mnookin).

Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar’s newest collaboration, Feminist Literary Theory and Criticism: A Norton Reader, is the first ... collection to trace the historical evolution of feminist writing about literature in English from the Middle Ages to the twenty-first century.With selections by more than 100 writers and scholars, the Reader is an ideal companion for literature surveys where critical and theoretical texts are featured, as well as a rich, flexible core text for advanced courses in feminist theory and criticism. The Reader can be packaged with the Norton Anthology of Literature by Women, Third Edition, at a substantial discount.

Now in its third edition, Feminist Literary Theory remains the most comprehensive, single volume introduction to a vital and diverse field Fully revised... and updated to reflect changes in the field over the last decadeIncludes extracts from all the major critics, critical approaches and theoretical positions in contemporary feminist literary studiesFeatures a new section, Writing 'Glocal', which covers feminism's dialogue with postcolonial, global and spatial studiesRevised chapter introductions provide readers with helpful contextual information while extensive notes offer recommendations for further reading

             First published in 1976, and revised in 1996, George H. Nash’s celebrated history of the postwar conservative intellectual... movement has become the unquestioned standard in the field. This new edition, published in commemoration of the volume’s thirtieth anniversary, includes a new preface by Nash and will continue to instruct anyone interested in how today’s conservative movement was born.

This brief text on social research methodology teaches students of sociology and related disciplines how standard methods can be adapted toward critical... ends by thinking more carefully about the links between epistemology and methodology. Written in a clear, balanced fashion, Joey Sprague's treatment of qualitative and quantitative methods shows that all can be used effectively by progressive researchers. She describes and evaluates a wide array of methodological options for the production of knowledge. Unique to this volume, Sprague avoids the stereotype that tarnishes all quantitative research as inherently anti-feminist, showing— through an analysis of model studies— how surveys and experimental designs are being used by critical scholars. She traces how the social organization of the academy has produced a bias against feminist methodology and proposes a program to overcome these limitations. Sprague's book will be of value to scholars of many disciplines, and a essential text or supplement for methods classes.

`An accessible, clearly explained review of difficult concepts within this arena as well as relevant debates. Its strengths are in outlining possible... considerations that need to be taken into account when making methodological choices. It also clearly explains how these choices impact knowledge production. This book would undoubtedly be of considerable use to anyone seeking to understand and get to grips with feminist methodological issues' - Feminism and Psychology Who would be a feminist now? Contemporary 'political realism' suggests that the essentials of the battle have already been won, and the current generation of women entering University is used to seeing feminism presented as 'old fashioned', 'extreme' and 'unrealistic'. Challenging such assumptions, this important new book argues for the value of empirical investigations of gendered life, and brings together the theoretical, political and practical aspects of feminist methodology. Feminist Methodology - demonstrates how feminist approaches to methodology engage with debates in western philosophy to raise critical questions about knowledge production - shows that feminist methodology has a distinctive place in social research - guides the reader through the terrain of feminist methodology and clarifies how feminists can claim knowledge of gendered social existence - connects abstract issues of theory with issues in fieldwork practice. This timely and accessible book will be an essential resource for students in women's studies, gender studies, sociology, cultural studies, social anthropology and feminist psychology.