Abstract

This article takes the New England Women's Studies Association (NEWSA) from the initial organizing meetings in fall 1976, as one of twelve regions to NWSA's founding conference in 1977, to NEWSA's own founding conference in April of that year, and up to the mid-1980s. It highlights NEWSA's role as regional host for NWSA's 1981 national convention, Women Respond to Racism, at the University of Connecticut. Quoting a paper circulated at NWSA's founding convention and NEWSA's Statement of Purpose, it discusses women's studies' roots in the women's movement. This meant a commitment to developing feminist education at every educational level and setting, rejecting artificial divisions between academy and community, and pursuing a feminist vision of a world free not only from sexism, but also from all oppressive "isms" and their institutional supports. The article concludes by asking if we have remained true to that vision.

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