Transformations: Power, Knowledge and Feminist Scholarship : An Ethnography of Academia read online book EPUB, DOC, PDF
9781138911499 1138911496 Feminist scholarship is sometimes dismissed as not quite proper knowledge it s too political or subjective, many argue. But what are the boundaries of proper knowledge? Who defines them, and how are they changing? How do feminists negotiate them? And how does this boundary-work affect women s and gender studies, and its scholars and students lives? These are the questions tackled by this ground-breaking ethnography of academia inspired by feminist epistemology, Foucault, and science and technology studies. Drawing on data collected over a decade in Portugal and the UK, US and Scandinavia, this title explores different spaces of academic work and sociability, considering both official discourse and corridor talk . It links epistemic negotiations to the shifting political economy of academic labour, and situates the smallest (but fiercest) departmental negotiations within global relations of unequal academic exchange. Through these links, this timely volume also raises urgent questions about the current state and status of gender studies and the mood of contemporary academia. Indeed, its sobering, yet uplifting, discussion of that mood offers fresh insight into what it means to produce feminist work within neoliberal cultures of academic performativity, demanding increasing productivity. As the first book to analyse how academics talk (publicly or in off-the-record humour) about feminist scholarship, "Power, Knowledge and Feminist Scholarship "is essential reading for scholars and students in gender studies, LGBTQ studies, post-colonial studies, STS, sociology and education.", Women's, gender, feminist studies (WGFS) has made groundbreaking contributions to scholarly inquiry and social change, and yet in many academic contexts it is not fully recognised as 'proper' knowledge. This has been shown to have negative effects on scholars and students, and on the possibilities for developing WGFS research and education. And yet, there exists no book offering a detailed analysis of the discourses that circulate in universities about the value of WGFS. This pioneering book addresses that through an ethnography of academia, examining how academics define the boundaries of what counts as 'proper' knowledge, and how WGFS gets positioned vis-Ã -vis these boundaries, against a backdrop of higher education cutbacks and other worrying trends of academic change. Explicitly interdisciplinary, the book articulates feminist epistemology, Foucault's work, and science and technology studies to produce a thought-provoking analysis of the daily negotiations that unfold in a range of spaces of academic work and sociability, considering both official discourse and informal 'corridor talk'. It draws on in-depth fieldwork in Portugal, and observation in the UK and at international academic conferences in the US and throughout the world. It will be essential reading for scholars and students in WGFS, as well as LGBTQ studies, post-colonial studies, science and technology studies, education, and anthropology.
9781138911499 1138911496 Feminist scholarship is sometimes dismissed as not quite proper knowledge it s too political or subjective, many argue. But what are the boundaries of proper knowledge? Who defines them, and how are they changing? How do feminists negotiate them? And how does this boundary-work affect women s and gender studies, and its scholars and students lives? These are the questions tackled by this ground-breaking ethnography of academia inspired by feminist epistemology, Foucault, and science and technology studies. Drawing on data collected over a decade in Portugal and the UK, US and Scandinavia, this title explores different spaces of academic work and sociability, considering both official discourse and corridor talk . It links epistemic negotiations to the shifting political economy of academic labour, and situates the smallest (but fiercest) departmental negotiations within global relations of unequal academic exchange. Through these links, this timely volume also raises urgent questions about the current state and status of gender studies and the mood of contemporary academia. Indeed, its sobering, yet uplifting, discussion of that mood offers fresh insight into what it means to produce feminist work within neoliberal cultures of academic performativity, demanding increasing productivity. As the first book to analyse how academics talk (publicly or in off-the-record humour) about feminist scholarship, "Power, Knowledge and Feminist Scholarship "is essential reading for scholars and students in gender studies, LGBTQ studies, post-colonial studies, STS, sociology and education.", Women's, gender, feminist studies (WGFS) has made groundbreaking contributions to scholarly inquiry and social change, and yet in many academic contexts it is not fully recognised as 'proper' knowledge. This has been shown to have negative effects on scholars and students, and on the possibilities for developing WGFS research and education. And yet, there exists no book offering a detailed analysis of the discourses that circulate in universities about the value of WGFS. This pioneering book addresses that through an ethnography of academia, examining how academics define the boundaries of what counts as 'proper' knowledge, and how WGFS gets positioned vis-Ã -vis these boundaries, against a backdrop of higher education cutbacks and other worrying trends of academic change. Explicitly interdisciplinary, the book articulates feminist epistemology, Foucault's work, and science and technology studies to produce a thought-provoking analysis of the daily negotiations that unfold in a range of spaces of academic work and sociability, considering both official discourse and informal 'corridor talk'. It draws on in-depth fieldwork in Portugal, and observation in the UK and at international academic conferences in the US and throughout the world. It will be essential reading for scholars and students in WGFS, as well as LGBTQ studies, post-colonial studies, science and technology studies, education, and anthropology.