Gender studies as a multi-centred field? Centres and peripheries in academic gender research

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronika Wöhrer
Keyword(s):  
Gender Studies ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
North American ◽  
Geographic Location ◽  
Women's And Gender Studies ◽  
Gender Research ◽  
European Institution ◽  
Concepts Of Knowledge ◽  
Western European ◽  
And Gender

In this article I analyse prominent textbooks, encyclopedias and journals in the field of women’s and gender studies and ask where the authors and concepts presented in these texts and sites of publication come from in terms of geographic location. This is inspired by the question: to what extent can gender studies be described as a ‘multi-centered’ field (Connell, 2011) and can gender studies take into account feminist concepts of knowledge production which favour the involvement of the greatest possible diversity of authors (Longino, 1990; Harding, 1991)? The analyses presented here show that being located at a North American or Western European institution still seems to be a crucial factor in authors being published and referred to – both in Western academic centres and in other regions. It seems that there is still a long way to go before various local gender studies communities can communicate on a more egalitarian footing.

Ableism in academic knowledge production

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2-2021) ◽  
pp. 126-141
Author(s):  
Natascha Compes
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Gender Studies ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Gender Research ◽  
Disability Theory ◽  
Subsequent Transformation ◽  
Academic Knowledge ◽  
The Status ◽  
And Gender

The article takes up feminist disability scholars’ request for an integration of disability (theory) into women’s and gender studies and intends to take stock of the status and development of this integration. By means of qualitative content analysis, excerpts of German and US handbooks of gender research are examined for their degree of integrating disability (theory) and for inherent ableism. Considering the scholars’ requests of full integration and a subsequent transformation of gender research the sample shows only minor signs of change and the request must be upheld.

scholarly journals Researching gender: the challenge of global diversity today

Afrika Focus ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chia Longman
Keyword(s):  
Gender Studies ◽  
Cultural Anthropology ◽  
Cultural Relativism ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Feminist Philosophy ◽  
Gender Research ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Binary Model ◽  
Field Versus ◽  
And Gender

The text of this paper is based on a lecture given at the symposium of the Ghent African Platform “Researching Gender in/on Africa” at Ghent University in December 2009. It addresses some general challenges faced by ‘gender studies’ as an autonomous field versus ‘gender research’ as an integrated topic within mainstream disciplines in academia. Gender studies have sometimes superseded ‘women’s studies’ and expanded to cover the terrain of study of various forms of diversity including men’s and transgender studies. We will show that the ‘mainstreaming’ of gender in public policy at local, national and transnational levels is a development which may potentially lead to the loss of a – feminist – political edge. Secondly, while gender studies with their emphasis on socially constructed gender as opposed to biological essentialist understandings of ‘sex’ appear to face the challenge of a popular ‘new biological determinism’, it is shown that the binary model of sex/gender in fact has been criticised for some time now from within feminist theory and gender research. This is (selectively) illustrated with research from four disciplines, including the work of African gender studies scholars, i.e. feminist philosophy, social sciences (in particular socio-cultural anthropology), history and biology itself. This then shows how the accusation that gender studies would be ‘socially deterministic’ without attending to bodily matters or materiality is unfounded. Finally, it is argued that there is still a need for gender studies to become more culturally diverse, more global and transnational in its outlook, by becoming more deeply attuned to the way gender intersects with other forms of difference and taking into account postcolonial critiques of western feminist paternalism, without falling into the trap of cultural relativism. Key words: gender studies, feminism, sex/gender debate, gender mainstreaming, postcolonial critique, cultural relativism, Afrocentrism 

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