Foreword

Dear Readers,

This special issue, “Knowledge That Matters: Feminist Epistemology, Methodology, and Science Studies,” evolved from a 2007 conference organized by scholars who analyze feminist epistemologies, methodologies, methodologies, metaphysics, and science studies (FEMMSS). Because the conference was held at Arizona State University, home of Frontiers, and, more important, because the conference’s organizer, Mary Margaret Fonow, professor and director of the Women and Gender Studies Program at ASU, is a member of the Frontiers Collective, we—your editors and Mary Margaret—quickly agreed that creating a special issue from the conference proceedings would benefit everyone.

Readers of Frontiers will benefit the most. In this issue they can see feminist scholars who study the fields of science and technology engage in a most audacious and courageous act. These feminists call for scientists and those who study the disciplines of science to do nothing less than transform the very methods by which they work to achieve the feminist goals of social justice and egalitarian democracy. Because these articles are, on the one hand, so very bold and, on the other, so concerned with such basic questions of method—such as for whom should I write—readers of all fields will find this issue thought-provoking and highly useful in their own considerations of epistemological issues.

We at Frontiers enjoyed working on this issue, which came together so smoothly. For that we must especially thank Mary Margaret Fonow and her co-guest editor, Nancy D. Campbell, associate professor of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. We also must thank those who work so hard for Frontiers on this issue and many others. These include Emily Lewis and Morgan Hoodenpyle, our editorial assistants; Victoria Hay, editor of the ASU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Journals Office, and Kim Engel, the Journals Office assistant editor in charge of Frontiers.