Abstract

Recently, the women's studies PhD has been charged, in its multiplicity, as lacking a unified subjectivity and epistemology that, in other contexts, feminist scholars seek to transform. In this paper, I analyze gaps between feminist theories of multiplicity and intersectionality and women's studies' practices valuing oneness and disciplinary coherence and suggest that Women's Studies has not gone far enough in drawing from its own theoretical and political insights. By further engaging feminist theory as a resource for institutional and political practices, the field will not only expand possibilities for social change, but will also demonstrate that it takes itself seriously. However, institutionalization of Women's Studies does not necessarily require an oppositional approach to disciplinary border patrol. The challenge for the field and for NWSA (National Women's Studies Association) in particular, lies in forging both/and institutional models that resist closure, sustain coalition politics, and foster ecological knowledge practices without replicating modes of colonialist nation-building.

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