Knowing Feminisms : On Academic Borders, Territories and Tribes

The book addresses fundamentally important questions such as: Should feminists work within traditional disciplines or abandon them in favour of Women′s Studies? Is the idea of feminist pedagogy as `empowerment′ actually one which de-skills? Does the feminist transformation of some academic disciplines signify that these are no longer significant sites of knowledge and/or power? Do the essential organizational features of disciplines and institutions depend upon repressive means, or is it possible to transform these according to feminist principles? Are some disciplines and types of institutions 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 Women′s 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?