Feminist Theory, sex roles, feminist authors, feminist criticism 

For over a decade, feminist studies have occupied an extraordinary position in the United States. On the one hand, they have contributed to the development of a strong ‘identity’ politics; on the other, they have been part of the post-structuralist critique of the unified subject – its experience, truth and presence – and of the massive challenge to Western metaphysics and humanism. Along with race and ethnic studies, feminist enquiry has moved beyond the fiction of a unitary feminism to address the differences within the study of difference.

The essays in this volume all address feminism’s relationships to theory and politics at the level of the criticism and production of knowledge. Readers and students of politics, history, literature, philosophy, sociology and the sciences – anyone with a stake in theory and politics – will benefit from this powerful book 

Acknowledgements. Introduction: Terms of Reference Elizabeth Weed. Feminist Politics of Interpretation. 1. Changing the Subject Nancy K. Miller 2. Julia Kristeva: Take Two Jacqueline Rose 3. (Commentary) Postponing Politics Margaret W. Ferguson. Sexual Difference and Indifference. 4. Dreaming Dissymmetry: Barthes, Foucault and Sexual Difference Naomi Schor 5. Is there a Lesbian in this Text? Derrida, Wittig and the Politics of the Three Women Heather Findlay 6. (Commentary) Post-Utopian Difference Mary Ann Doane. Writing History. 7. Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis Joan W. Scott 8. The Body Politic Carroll Smith-Rosenberg 9. The Problem of Race in Women’s History Evelyn Brooks-Higginbotham 10. (Commentary) Feminism and the Consolidations of ‘Women’ in History Denise Riley. Discourses of Domination. 11. Feminism and Cross-Cultural Inquiry: The Terms of the Discourse in Islam Leila Ahmed 12. ‘It’s You, and Not Me’: Domination and ‘Othering’ in Theorizing the ‘Third World’ Rey Chow 13. (Commentary) ‘All That is Inside is Not Centre’: Responses to the Discourses of Domination Barbara Harlow. Rethinking Political Economy. 14. A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology and Socialist Feminism in the 1980s Donna Haraway 15. (Commentary) Allies and Enemies Christina Crosby 16. (Commentary) Cyborgs, Origins and Subjectivity Mary Ann Doane 17. (Commentary) Cyborgian Socialists? Joan W. Scott 18. The Political Economy of Women as Seen by a Literary Critic Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak 19. (Commentary) What is To Be Done Ellen Rooney. Notes. Contributors.