Monday, November 16, 2009

Feminism: Activist or Academic? Today 5:30PM University Center-Chattanooga Room


The UTC Women's Studies Colloquium: Explore, Connect, and Empower Lecture
Series will continue on Monday, November 16, 5:30 p.m. in the University
Center-Chattanooga Room with the second lecture in the Women's Studies
Colloquium.

Heather Palmer and Rebecca Jones, both Assistant Professors in English and Women's Studies, will present “Feminism: Activist or Academic?”


Following the history of feminism as a grassroots, activist, and academic enterprise, Palmer and Jones discuss its place both within the ivory tower
and outside its walls, seeking to interrogate the perceived divide between what feminists do at the university and what they do in the streets.


For many, feminism is a way of life, an activity, a social movement, an academic discipline, a theoretical concept, and a critical methodology.
Anti-feminists see it as a dangerously radical ideology that negatively influences familial and social structures-both from within the university
setting and as a trend permeating popular culture.


As a theoretical discipline, feminism now has a specific space in a university.  However, the activist roots of feminism constantly push against
disciplinary boundaries of a university setting. 
The presentation will look at current perceptions of feminism from across the cultural landscape, in order to answer the following questions: Is there
a place for political and social activism in the university classroom?
Conversely, is there a place for academic and theoretical feminism within social and political activism? How might we vision feminism as a project that transcends the divide between academia and activism?


Students are encouraged to bring their own experiences with feminism to the presentation to add to a lively discussion after the presentation.

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