Exploring Women's Studies Looking Forward, Looking Back

by Berkin, Carol R.; Pinch, Judith L.; Appel, Carol

• ISBN13: 9780131850880
• ISBN10: 0131850881
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-05-17
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

This innovative collection of original essays, all written by leading scholars who received Women's Studies Dissertation Fellowships early in their careers from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, examines the theories and methodologies that have shaped women's studies over three decades in the fields of history, sociology, literature, anthropology, political science, film studies, and art history. Reflections by each contributor on the impact her work has had on her life present opportunities for today's generation of students to connect with their senior peers. Exploring Women's Studies is a celebration of success and a reflection on the challenges that lie ahead. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

Preface	v
Introduction	1	(8)
Part 1 The Evolution of Economic and Political Citizenship for Women	9	(46)
Beyond the Waves: Rethinking the History of Feminisms	11	(14)
Estelle B. Freedman
African Feminisms: The Struggle Continues	25	(13)
Beverly Guy-Sheftall
Feminism, Empire, and the Fate of National Histories: The Case of Victorian Britain	38	(17)
Antoinette Burton
Part 2 Gender Construction in Action	55	(76)
When Women's Studies Isn't about Women: Writing about Drag Queens	57	(11)
Leila J. Rupp
Anthropology, Gender, and Narrative	68	(19)
Caroline B. Brettell
The Queerness of Victorian Marriage Reform	87	(21)
Sharon Marcus
``Return from exile'': Community, Nation, and Gender in George Eliot's Fiction	108	(23)
Deborah Epstein Nord
Part 3 Labor, Class, and Space	131	(88)
Writing Women's History: What's Feminism Got to Do with It?	133	(13)
Jacqueline Jones
``Independence Herself'': A New Spin on Old Stories about Household Production in Early New England	146	(16)
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Stealing Happiness: Women Shoplifters in Georgian England	162	(22)
Adela Pinch
Gender Sharing of Labor: An Anthropological Perspective	184	(17)
Shanshan Du
Understanding Agoraphobia: Women, Men, and the Historical Geography of Urban Anxiety	201	(18)
Felicity Callard
Part 4 Rights, Reforms, and Welfare	219	(80)
The Politics of Gender and Schooling in the Progressive Era	221	(15)
Miriam Cohen
Women's History with the Politics Left IN: Feminist Studies of the U.S. Welfare State	236	(20)
Felicia A. Kornbluh
Patriarchy, Racism, and Business Interests: Cross-Class Support for Welfare Rentrenchment in the United States	256	(20)
Ellen Reese
Metaphors of Class and Race: Comparing German and American Feminisms	276	(23)
Myra Marx Ferree
Part 5 Knowledge Production	299	(63)
Taking the ``man'' Out of the Humanities: How Feminism and Technology Are Transforming the Discipline	301	(17)
Martha Nell Smith
The Art of Darkness: Willa Cather's Aesthetics	318	(13)
Michele Aina Barale
Feminist Film Theory and the Problem of Liking Characters	331	(17)
Sabrina Barton
Feminism and Art History: Past Achievements and New Directions	348	(14)
Susan P. Casteras
Index	362