Globalizing women's studies: pitfalls and possibilities

Abstract

As women's studies becomes increasingly international in scope, women's studies programs face new challenges. This article explores the difficulties of defining and meeting curricular goals within the rapidly changing landscape of women's studies. It describes the process of creating and teaching a course called 'Global Feminisms', focusing on pedagogical issues and on the strategies that can grow out of a course such as this. In teaching Global Feminisms, I did not want my students to become experts on women in any particular part of the world, but instead to become different kinds of feminist thinkers and activists- more international in their perspective; more thoughtful about their own subjectivity; and better at both listening to and engaging with traditions other than their own. A map of the course is interwoven with a reflection on several questions provoked by the introduction of a global perspective into women's movements and women's studies. The article concludes with a discussion of the ways in which the internationalization of women's studies pushes us to rethink the women's studies curriculum as a whole. Finally, the Epilogue reveals some of the connections and gaps between how a teacher thinks about a course as complex as Global Feminisms, and how her students experience it.