More than an Encore

Twenty years of publishing a journal is reason to celebrate and time to contemplate an encore. The Board of Directors of the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Inc., the nonprofit organization that publishes the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, realized that as the JFSR matures there is much more we need to do to develop the infrastructure of feminist scholarship and activism. So, the group organized a conference with the ambitious title "Teaching for Change: Creating Knowledge, Transforming Institutions," which convened at Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, June 10–14, 2005. Some short reflections on that exciting, formative event and its impact are included in this issue. As a signal that the organization now does more than publish a journal, we are using the name Feminist Studies in Religion, Inc., or FSR, Inc., as our official title.

During the conference, more than eighty colleagues from around the world (including women from Aoteorea/New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, England, Germany, Ghana, India, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Mexico, and the United States) lived and worked together in an intensive effort to map the terrain of and organize future projects. We included graduate students as well as senior professors, midcareer academics, government and religious workers, and activists of many stripes. Primary support for the conference came from the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, with additional funds from the Ford and Luce foundations to facilitate international participation.

The conference was conceptualized as a working event that actively involved all of its participants. More than half of those in attendance made plenary panel presentations. Everyone assembled was involved in daily working groups that digested the agenda's input and shaped future collaboration. Creative rituals led by an interfaith (Jewish, Muslim, and Christian) team added a spiritual dimension; music provided by a women's ensemble was a welcome balance to all of the words. Meals together, informal conversation in the evening, and forays in Cambridge allowed participants to get to know one another beyond titles and publications. A lively party that included dancing and comedy capped an unforgettable week of intense work and equally intense enjoyment with committed friends.

We began "Taking Stock" with "Critical Reflection on Experience" chaired by Vivian-Lee Nyitray. We learned that feminism is still a costly commitment around the world, often misunderstood and/or instrumentalized to diminish women's capacity to thrive. We heard about creative efforts to change this situation, including strategies for teaching in an all-women's college and the development of online journals to expand the reach of academic discourse.

We moved on to "Structural/Institutional Analysis" chaired by María Pilar Aquino. We focused on class issues, especially how higher education can result in "mobility for stasis." We acknowledged the need to build bridges beyond the university. We asked who constitutes "we" when it comes to feminist work, a question that led us to look critically at the variety of our starting points. We explored how feminist studies can provide the tools for dismantling oppressive structures as well as a starting point for building a power base, a springboard for movement building. All of these conversations continued in the working groups, where each participant added her experience to the general taking stock. Thus concrete instances of racism, sexual violence, poverty, discrimination against indigenous people, heterosexism, and/or ageism formed the basis of our analysis and the impetus for our constructive work.

"Theoretical Analysis" was our next task, kicked off by a panel on "Theoretical Approaches to Feminist Knowledge and Pedagogy" chaired by Naomi Goldenberg. We looked at subjugated knowledge and the need for critical, subversive pedagogies that help dismantle oppressive structures. We explored the ways in which our multiple identities make feminist work both complicated and rich. We talked about the role of the media and of governments in shaping consciousness. We saw how advertising functions as a powerful force and what psychoanalytic theory can contribute to the discourse. Postcolonial feminist analysis added a much-needed critical dimension. Power questions of who is listening/speaking and what the goal of specific projects is in an unjust world became...