Fifty-One Key Feminist Thinkers

295 Pages·2016·2.39 MB·English

by  Lori J. Marso (ed.)

FIFTY-ONE KEY FEMINIST THINKERS
Collected here are fifty-one key thinkers and fifty-one authors, recogniz-
ing that women are fifty-one percent of the population. There are actually
one-hundred-and-two thinkers featured in these pages, as each author is a
feminist thinker, too: scholars, writers, poets, and activists, well-established
and emerging, old and young, and in-between. These feminists speak the
languages of art, politics, literature, education, classics, gender studies, film,
queer theory, global affairs, political theory, science fiction, African Amer-
ican studies, sociology, American studies, geography, history, philosophy,
poetry, and psychoanalysis. Speaking in all these diverse tongues, conver-
sations made possible by feminist thinking are introduced and engaged.
Key figures include:
• Simone de Beauvoir
• Doris Lessing
• Toni Morrison
• Cindy Sherman
• Octavia Butler
• Marina Warner
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton
• Chantal Akerman
• Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
• Audre Lorde
• Barbara E. Johnson
• Sappho
• Adrienne Rich.
Each entry is supported by a list of the thinker’s major works, along
with further reading suggestions. An ideal resource for students and
academics alike, this text will appeal to all those interested in the fields
of gender studies, women’s studies and women’s history and politics.
Lori J. Marso is Professor of Political Science and Former Director of
Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at Union College in Schenec-
tady, New York, USA.
In Fifty-One Key Feminist Thinkers Lori Marso has brought together an
excellent collection of accessible yet incisive, rich and original semi-
biographical essays on key feminist thinkers, ranging from Sappho and
Sojourner Truth to Nawal El Saadawi and Judith Butler. The volume is
an invaluable resource for anyone interested in feminist thinking in all
its variety and complexity.
Moya Lloyd, Professor of Political Theory,
Loughborough University, UK
Showing readers that feminist theory remains one of the most exciting
sites for engaging questions of both political thought and action, Fifty-
One Key Feminist Thinkers creates a remarkable conversation between
feminist theorists past and present. Considering questions of identity,
freedom, power, justice, desire, autonomy, inclusion, difference, and
what ‘counts’ as feminism, Fifty-One Key Feminist Thinkers offers read-
ers a thought-provoking vision of the past and future of feminist theory.
Cristina Beltrán, Associate Professor,
Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University, USA
Lori Marso has done an artful job of selecting authors to tell the stories
of feminism. This is a delightful collection of the intellectual contribu-
tions of a range of feminist thinkers.
Falguni A. Sheth, Associate Professor of Women’s,
Gender and Sexuality Studies, Emory University
FIFTY-ONE KEY
FEMINIST THINKERS
Edited by Lori J. Marso
First published 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 Lori Marso
The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the
authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Marso, Lori Jo, editor.
Title: Fifty key feminist thinkers / edited by Lori Marso.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY : Routledge, 2016.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015050400|
ISBN 9780415681346 (hardback) | ISBN 9780415681353 (pbk.) |
ISBN 9781315558806 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Feminists. | Feminism–History. | Women’s rights–History.
Classification: LCC HQ1123 .F55 2016 | DDC 305.42092/2–dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015050400
ISBN: 978-0-415-68134-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-68135-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-55880-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Cenveo Publisher Services
for Luci
Women can be angry, wild, passionate, powerful, loving, violent, frus-
trated, sad, truthful, hungry, tender. Women can change the world;
women can be free.
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CONTENTS
Historical timeline ix
List of contributors xi
Preface xxi
Acknowledgments xxiii
1. Abigail Adams (1744–1818) Patricia Moynagh 1
2. Chantal Akerman (1950–2015) Lori Marso 5
3. Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa
(1942–2004) AnaLouise Keating 10
4. Mary Astell (1666–1731) Patricia Springborg 16
5. Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) Lori Marso 21
6. Judith Butler (1956–) Birgit Schippers 26
7. Octavia E. Butler (1947–2006) adrienne maree brown
and Ayana A. H. Jamieson 31
8. Rachel Carson (1907–1964) Lynda Walsh 36
9. Anna Julia Cooper (1858–1964) Penny Weiss 41
10. Mary Daly (1928–2010) Krista Ratcliffe 46
11. Angela Davis (1944–) Lisa Guenther 52
12. Christine Delphy (1941–) Lisa Disch 57
13. Anne Fausto-Sterling (1944–) Evelynn Hammonds 62
14. Shulamith Firestone (1945–2012) Kathi Weeks 67
15. Betty Friedan (1921–2006) Rebecca Jo Plant 72
16. Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) Jeffrey Steele 77
17. Charlotte Perkins Gilman
(1860–1935) Cynthia J. Davis 82
18. Emma Goldman (1869–1940) Kathy E. Ferguson 87
19. Olympe de Gouges (1748–1793) Ariella Azoulay 93
20. Donna Haraway (1944–) Jana Sawicki 98
21. Bell Hooks (1952–) Namulundah Florence 103
22. Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960) Deborah G. Plant 109
23. Luce Irigaray (1930–) Lynne Huffer 114
24. Barbara E. Johnson (1947–2009) Deborah Jenson 119
vii
CONTENTS
25. Jamaica Kincaid (1949–) Marla Brettschneider 125
26. Julia Kristeva (1941–) Fanny Söderbäck 129
27. Doris Lessing (1919–2013) Alice Ridout 134
28. Audre Lorde (1934–1992) M. Jacqui Alexander 139
29. Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) Jodi Dean 144
30. Catharine A. MacKinnon (1946–) Judith Grant 150
31. Margaret Mead (1901–1978) Nancy Lutkehaus 155
32. Kate Millett (1934–) Victoria Hesford 160
33. Toni Morrison (1931–) Lawrie Balfour 165
34. Laura Mulvey (1941–) Rosalind Galt 171
35. Susan Moller Okin (1946–2004) Joan Tronto 176
36. Christine de Pizan Renate
(c. 1364–1430) Blumenfeld-Kosinski 180
37. Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) Susan McCabe 186
38. Nawal El Saadawi (1931–) Amal Amirah 191
39. Sappho (c. 630–570 bce) Victoria Wohl 196
40. Cindy Sherman (1954–) Charlotte Eyerman 201
41. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
(1942–) Ritu Birla 206
42. Elizabeth Cady Stanton
(1815–1902) Andrea Foroughi 212
43. Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) Barbara Will 217
44. Edith Thomas (1909–1970) Michelle Chilcoat 222
45. Sojourner Truth (1797–1883) Laurie E. Naranch 227
46. Marina Warner (1946–) Torrey Shanks 232
47. Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862–1931) Crystal N. Feimster 237
48. Monique Wittig (1935–2003) Linda M. G. Zerilli 242
49. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) Angela F. Maione 247
50. Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) Susan Sellers 252
51. Iris Marion Young (1949–2006) Michaele Ferguson 257
Index 263
viii
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
1. Sappho (c. 630–570 bce)
2. Christine de Pizan (c. 1364–c. 1430)
3. Mary Astell (1666–1731)
4. Abigail Adams (1744–1818)
5. Olympe de Gouges (1748–1793)
6. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797)
7. Sojourner Truth (1797–1883)
8. Margaret Fuller (1810–1850)
9. Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
10. Anna Julia Cooper (1858–1964)
11. Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935)
12. Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862–1931)
13. Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
14. Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919)
15. Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
16. Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
17. Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
18. Margaret Mead (1901–1978)
19. Rachel Carson (1907–1964)
20. Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986)
21. Edith Thomas (1909–1970)
22. Doris Lessing (1919–2013)
23. Betty Friedan (1921–2006)
24. Mary Daly (1928–2010)
25. Adrienne Rich (1929–2012)
26. Luce Irigaray (1930–)
27. Toni Morrison (1931–)
28. Nawal El Saadawi (1931–)
29. Kate Millett (1934–)
30. Audre Lorde (1934–1992)
31. Monique Wittig (1935–2003)
32. Christine Delphy (1941–)
ix