Women's Studies and Its Institutionalization as an Interdisciplinary Field: Past, Present, and Future

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Author(s)
Saraswati, L. Ayu
Shaw, Barbara L.
Date Issued
January 1, 2023
Abstract
To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of WSQ, this article offers a snapshot of the history of women’s studies (WS), one that establishes it as an interdisciplinary field alongside Black studies and ethnic studies. It also provides a roundtable among scholars who were integral to the formation of a PhD in WS program, strategies for small undergraduate departments and programs in an era of consolidation and elimination, and a call to reenvision the field’s purpose. In addition to arguing for solidarity and collaboration between women’s, gender, sexuality, and feminist (W/G/S/F), Black studies, and ethnic studies, it asks scholars-teachers to reimagine its curricula and research and writing practices as a method of un-disciplining. This is not a simple return to its roots though its history matters in addressing the pressing social justice concerns of the twenty-first century.
Journal
Women's Studies Quarterly
Department
Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Citation
Saraswati, L. Ayu, and Barbara L. Shaw. "Women’s Studies and Its Institutionalization as an Interdisciplinary Field: Past, Present, and Future." WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly 50, no. 3 (2022): 171-191. doi:10.1353/wsq.2022.0065.
Publisher
Feminist Press
Version of Article
Published article
DOI
10.1353/wsq.2022.0065.
ISSN
0732-1562
1934-1520
Rights
Copyright © 2022 L. Ayu Saraswati and Barbara L. Shaw
Subjects

History of women’s st...

Black studies

Ethnic studies

Field formation

Social movement roots...

Neoliberal challenges...

Future transformation...

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