First published in 1994 Stirring It debates the challenges which confront feminism and Women's Studies in the 1990s. In the face of current worldwide political and social upheavals, Stirring It poses questions about women, their bodies, their identities, and positions which need to be addressed by contemporary feminists. The chapters therefore challenge the orthodoxies and theories which are exploded by contemporary feminist practice. They raise new issues for feminist debate. The volume is divided into four sections: ‘Feminist Politics in Action’ investigates the inter-relationship between politics and action with reference to issues such as the women's movement in Britain and women's position in and in relation to Ireland; ‘Disrupting Sexual Identities’ provides critiques of heterosexuality, monogamy, and conceptualization of the female body; ‘Imaging and Imagining’ explores the politics of women's cultural production and ‘Women's Studies and Feminist Practice’ analyzes the often fraught connections between theory and practice. This is a must read for scholars and researchers of Women's Studies, Sociology, and Gender Studies.

In pointing to the way in which women have been historically represented (or left out altogether) and the reality of women's lives, feminist performance makes the histories, lives and desires of women visible, as this volume of plays from the 1990s aims to illustrate. Historical focus is shared by all three plays in this volume, as is the stylistic challenge which they offer to the "malestream" version of history. In "Walking on Peas", Erika Bloch takes the "hidden", unknown historical lives of women who cross-dressed and joined the army as its subject. Foursight Theatre has made looking at history through "the eyes of women such as Eva Braun, Pope Joan, Mae West and Ulrike Meinhof" a key focus of their work. Their group devised a one-act play on Mary Tudor and Queen Elizabeth I, "Bloody Mary and the Virgin Queen". Julie Wilkinson's "Mrs. Beeton's History of the World" fuses the "great" and the "ordinary" by representing Mrs Beeton in juxtaposition with the figure of her working-clas maid, Caroline.

This collection of essays challenges conceptions of "high" modernism, its preoccupation with style at the expense of issues such as race, class and gender, and its exclusive focus both on predominately male writers, poetry and prose fiction by highlighting the diversity of cultural production in the modernist period. This book focusses specifically on women's cultural production, covering a wide range of arts and genres including chapters on painting, theatre, and magazines. The book investigates how women usually constructed as "others", themselves construct others in their work in a period prominently concerned with the construction of self as an issue. This diversity offers a new format of reading modernism in a cross-disciplinary context.

Bringing together an international range of case studies and interviews with individuals who have had genital re/construction, Body, Migration, Re/constructive Surgeries explores the socio-cultural meanings of clitoral re/construction following female genital cutting (FGC), hymen reconstruction, trans and intersex bodily interventions; and cosmetic surgery. Drawing critical attention to how decisions around such surgeries are affected by social, economic and regulatory contexts that change over time and across spaces, it raises questions such as: How are bodies genderized through surgical interventions? How do such interventions express cultural context? How do women who have experienced female genital cutting respond to opportunities for clitoral reconstruction? How do female-to-male (FtM) trans people decide on how and where to undertake body modifications? What roles do cultural expectations and official regulations play in how people decide to have their bodies modified? Suggesting that conventional gender binaries are no longer adequate to understanding the quest for bodily interventions, this insightful volume seeks to give a greater voice to those engaged in gender body modification. It will appeal to students and postdoctoral researchers interested in fields such as Gender Studies, Social Studies, Sexuality Studies and Cultural Studies.

Bringing together an international range of case studies and interviews with individuals who have had genital re/construction, Body, Migration, Re/constructive Surgeries explores the socio-cultural meanings of clitoral re/construction following female genital cutting (FGC), hymen reconstruction, trans and intersex bodily interventions; and cosmetic surgery. Drawing critical attention to how decisions around such surgeries are affected by social, economic and regulatory contexts that change over time and across spaces, it raises questions such as: How are bodies genderized through surgical interventions? How do such interventions express cultural context? How do women who have experienced female genital cutting respond to opportunities for clitoral reconstruction? How do female-to-male (FtM) trans people decide on how and where to undertake body modifications? What roles do cultural expectations and official regulations play in how people decide to have their bodies modified? Suggesting that conventional gender binaries are no longer adequate to understanding the quest for bodily interventions, this insightful volume seeks to give a greater voice to those engaged in gender body modification. It will appeal to students and postdoctoral researchers interested in fields such as Gender Studies, Social Studies, Sexuality Studies and Cultural Studies.

Interviewing is one of the most common techniques used to conduct qualitative research in the social sciences and humanities. As a result of globalization, researchers increasingly conduct interviews cross-, inter- and intra-nationally. This raises important questions about how differences and sameness are understood and negotiated within the interview situation, as well as the power structures at play within qualitative research, and the role that reflexivity plays in mediating these. What does it mean to interview Black women as a Black woman? How is ethnicity negotiated across various qualitative research encounters? How are differences bridged or asserted in feminist interviewing? These are just some of the questions explored in the chapters in this volume. Drawing on their recent research, the contributors detail their experiences of engaging in qualitative interviewing and examine how they negotiated the various dilemmas they encountered. The contributions challenge some of the assumptions made in early feminist work on interviewing, providing nuanced accounts of actual research experiences. This volume explores the practice and implications of conducting cross-, inter- and intra-cultural interviewing, bringing together researchers from a range of disciplines and countries to describe and analyse both its vicissitudes and its advantages.

Interviewing is one of the most common techniques used to conduct qualitative research in the social sciences and humanities. As a result of globalization, researchers increasingly conduct interviews cross-, inter- and intra-nationally. This raises important questions about how differences and sameness are understood and negotiated within the interview situation, as well as the power structures at play within qualitative research, and the role that reflexivity plays in mediating these. What does it mean to interview Black women as a Black woman? How is ethnicity negotiated across various qualitative research encounters? How are differences bridged or asserted in feminist interviewing? These are just some of the questions explored in the chapters in this volume. Drawing on their recent research, the contributors detail their experiences of engaging in qualitative interviewing and examine how they negotiated the various dilemmas they encountered. The contributions challenge some of the assumptions made in early feminist work on interviewing, providing nuanced accounts of actual research experiences. This volume explores the practice and implications of conducting cross-, inter- and intra-cultural interviewing, bringing together researchers from a range of disciplines and countries to describe and analyse both its vicissitudes and its advantages.

The past two decades have seen an increasing emphasis on large and interdisciplinary research configurations such as research networks, and centers of excellence including those in Social Sciences and Humanities research. Little research has been undertaken, however, to understand how these new large research structures that are being called forth by research funders and research/higher education institutions alike function socially, and what the impact of operating within such structures is on those working within, and those working with, them. Past writers have discussed the "intra-agentic" operations of human researchers and the material laboratory environment in its broadest sense. This volume is concerned with the social politics of research collaboration in relation to six key positions: leaders of large research formations, leaders of sub-projects within large collaborations, participant researchers, junior and early career researchers, advisory board members, and those who look in from the outside such as researchers who are un-funded. It explores the mostly unacknowledged but critical aspect of social structures in research, discussing issues such as struggles over leadership styles, the marginalization of researchers working cross-disciplinarily, power hierarchies and intellectual ownership, and the silencing of dissent in research.

Research collaboration in the form of networks, projects and centers has become one of the dominant modes of engaging in research, especially funded research, across all academic domains. However, there has been little research on the processes of such collaborations, particularly their affective dimensions. These, as this volume demonstrates and as researchers know well, are highly important, yet mostly not directly engaged with when scientists work together, even though they are experienced by everybody involved. This volume is the first to consider questions such as how the naming of projects impacts on their accompanying "affect-scapes," the policing or disciplining of emotions in research collaborations, their accompanying tensions and how these might be managed, and the challenges to trust between scientists that such collaborations present. Drawing on theories of affect and literature on collaboration, as well as on the contributors' experiences of being involved in large-scale research projects, the volume also importantly deals directly with some of the key emotions that occur during research collaborations such as blame, elation, frustration, alienation and belonging, and suggests some ways in which one might engage productively with the affective dimensions of research collaboration.

This volume centers on theories and methodologies for postgraduate feminist researchers engaged in interdisciplinary research. In the context of globalization, this book gives special attention to cutting-edge approaches at the borders between humanities and social sciences and specific discipline-transgressing fields, such as feminist technoscience studies.

The past two decades have seen an increasing emphasis on large and interdisciplinary research configurations such as research networks, and centers of excellence including those in Social Sciences and Humanities research. Little research has been undertaken, however, to understand how these new large research structures that are being called forth by research funders and research/higher education institutions alike function socially, and what the impact of operating within such structures is on those working within, and those working with, them. Past writers have discussed the "intra-agentic" operations of human researchers and the material laboratory environment in its broadest sense. This volume is concerned with the social politics of research collaboration in relation to six key positions: leaders of large research formations, leaders of sub-projects within large collaborations, participant researchers, junior and early career researchers, advisory board members, and those who look in from the outside such as researchers who are un-funded. It explores the mostly unacknowledged but critical aspect of social structures in research, discussing issues such as struggles over leadership styles, the marginalization of researchers working cross-disciplinarily, power hierarchies and intellectual ownership, and the silencing of dissent in research.

Research collaboration in the form of networks, projects and centers has become one of the dominant modes of engaging in research, especially funded research, across all academic domains. However, there has been little research on the processes of such collaborations, particularly their affective dimensions. These, as this volume demonstrates and as researchers know well, are highly important, yet mostly not directly engaged with when scientists work together, even though they are experienced by everybody involved. This volume is the first to consider questions such as how the naming of projects impacts on their accompanying "affect-scapes," the policing or disciplining of emotions in research collaborations, their accompanying tensions and how these might be managed, and the challenges to trust between scientists that such collaborations present. Drawing on theories of affect and literature on collaboration, as well as on the contributors' experiences of being involved in large-scale research projects, the volume also importantly deals directly with some of the key emotions that occur during research collaborations such as blame, elation, frustration, alienation and belonging, and suggests some ways in which one might engage productively with the affective dimensions of research collaboration.

This volume centers on theories and methodologies for postgraduate feminist researchers engaged in interdisciplinary research. In the context of globalization, this book gives special attention to cutting-edge approaches at the borders between humanities and social sciences and specific discipline-transgressing fields, such as feminist technoscience studies.

First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor and Francis, an informa company.

Pulp and Other Plays by Tasha Fairbanks is an anthology of plays which were written for the British group Siren Theatre Company, a lesbian theatre collective founded in 1979 by women from the punk music scene who worked with their unorthodox performance skills to challenge mainstream traditions of "straight" acting. This anthology of three of the company's plays brings long overdue recognition to the company which was Britain's foremost lesbian collective in the 1980s. This collection indicates the diversity of Siren's theatre work: their radical feminist critique of heterosexuality and male violence in "Curfew," their celebration of lesbian glamour and desire in "Pulp," and a scathing attack on Thatcherite Britain in "Now Wash Your Hands Please."
About the Editors
Gabrielle Griffin is Professor of Women's Studies at Nene College, Northampton. She is author of "Heavenly Love? Lesbian Images in Twentieth Century Women's Writing" (1993) and has most recently edi

Feminist activism is often taught as an historical phenomenon, and many students entering courses on women's studies are not familiar with current feminist work in the field. This book documents a wide variety of different forms of feminist activism in the 1990s, from organisations such as "Rights for Women" and "Southall Black Sisters" to "Asian Women's Work in Refuges". It raises questions about the meaning of "feminist activism" and its interpretation within women's studies and other academic disciplines. The chapters suggest, against much current representation within women's studies and elsewhere, that feminism is still alive. With a comprehensive introduction providing an historical overview of the development of feminist activism from "second wave" feminism onwards, this text is intended to be of use as a resource for all students of women's studies and related courses.

Feminist activism is often taught as an historical phenomenon, and many students entering courses on women's studies are not familiar with current feminist work in the field. This book documents a wide variety of different forms of feminist activism in the 1990s, from organisations such as "Rights for Women" and "Southall Black Sisters" to "Asian Women's Work in Refuges". It raises questions about the meaning of "feminist activism" and its interpretation within women's studies and other academic disciplines. The chapters suggest, against much current representation within women's studies and elsewhere, that feminism is still alive. With a comprehensive introduction providing an historical overview of the development of feminist activism from "second wave" feminism onwards, this text is intended to be of use as a resource for all students of women's studies and related courses.

This collection of essays challenges conceptions of "high" modernism, its preoccupation with style at the expense of issues such as race, class and gender, and its exclusive focus both on predominately male writers, poetry and prose fiction by highlighting the diversity of cultural production in the modernist period. This book focusses specifically on women's cultural production, covering a wide range of arts and genres including chapters on painting, theatre, and magazines. The book investigates how women usually constructed as "others", themselves construct others in their work in a period prominently concerned with the construction of self as an issue. This diversity offers a new format of reading modernism in a cross-disciplinary context.

This is the first book to explode the myth of Swedish gender equality, offering both a new perspective for an international audience, and suggesting how equality might be re-thought generally. The authors argue that whilst gender equality in Sweden has led to a society with increased opportunities for some, it has also become nationalistic and builds upon heteronormative and racial principles.

This is the first book to explode the myth of Swedish gender equality, offering both a new perspective for an international audience, and suggesting how equality might be re-thought generally. The authors argue that whilst gender equality in Sweden has led to a society with increased opportunities for some, it has also become nationalistic and builds upon heteronormative and racial principles.

This text was the first monograph to document and analyse the plays written by Black and Asian women in Britain. The volume explores how Black and Asian women playwrights theatricalize their experiences of migration, displacement, identity, racism and sexism in Britain. Plays by writers such as Tanika Gupta, Winsome Pinnock, Maya Chowdhry and Amrit Wilson, among others - many of whom have had their work produced at key British theatre sites - are discussed in some detail. Other playwrights' work is also briefly explored to suggest the range and scope of contemporary plays. The volume analyses concerns such as geographies of un/belonging, reverse migration (in the form of tourism), sexploitation, arranged marriages, the racialization of sexuality, and asylum seeking as they emerge in the plays, and argues that Black and Asian women playwrights have become constitutive subjects of British theatre.

Plays by writers such as Tanika Gupta, Winsome Pinnock, and Amrit Wilson, among others, are included in the first monograph to document plays by Black and Asian women in Britain. The volume analyzes concerns such as reverse migration (in the form of tourism), sexploitation, arranged marriages, the racialization of sexuality, and asylum seeking as they emerge in the plays. It argues that Black and Asian women playwrights have become constitutive subjects of British theater.

This title introduces students to a range of research methods deployed in the study of English. With a revised Introduction and with all chapters revised to bring them completely up-to date, this new edition remains the leading guide to research methods for final-year undergraduates, postgraduates taking Masters degrees and PhDs students of 19th- and 20th-century Literary Studies. Written by a range of distinguished contributors, each chapter centres on one particular method, offering both concrete practical advice on how to utilise it and exploring some of the methodological issues that are involved in the use of the particular method. The chapters cover research methods familiar to English scholars such as textual analysis, as well as those less commonly explored such as visual and quantitative methods, which also contribute significantly to research in English Studies. Other approaches discussed include auto/biographical methods, discourse analysis, interviewing, archival methods, ethnographic methods, oral history, creative writing as a research method, and research using information and communication technologies (ICTS). Gabriele Griffin is Professor of Women's Studies at the University of York. Her publications include the co-edited volumes The Emotional Politics of Research Collaboration (2013), The Social Politics of Research Collaboration (2013), and Theories and Methodologies in Postgraduate Feminist Research: Researching Differently (2011). She is the General Editor for Edinburgh University Press of the Research Methods for the Arts and Humanities series.

How have rapid changes in biotechnologisation, for example around assisted reproductive technologies or (re)constructive surgery, effected those seeking help with fertility treatment or clitoral reconstruction? What is involved for queer people in making a family of their own, or for trans people to access the relevant surgery? This volume argues that contemporary cultures foster bioprecarity by categorizing groups of people in certain ways and/or by denying them access to the treatment they seek or need. Drawing on original empirical data with trans and queer people, but also other minoritised and racialized groups, this volume explores how bodily interventions, their regulation, and the intimate labour the interventions involve, create vulnerabilities. -- .

This new textbook addresses the neglect of practical research methods in cultural studies. It provides students with clearly written overviews of research methods in cultural studies, along with guidelines on how to put these methods into operation. It advocates a multi-method approach, with students drawing from a pool of techniques and approaches suitable for their own topics of investigation. The book covers the following main areas:

Drawing on experience, and studying how narratives make sense of experience.

Investigating production processes in the cultural industries, and the consumption and assimilation of cultural products by audiences and fans.

Taking both quantitative and qualitative approaches to the study of cultural life.

Analysing visual images and both spoken and written forms of discourse.

Exploring cultural memory and historical representation.

The contributors, along with Michael Pickering, are Martin Barker, Aeron Davis, David Deacon, Emily Keightley, Steph Lawler, Anneke Meyer, Virginia Nightingale, and Sarah Pink. The book is designed for use by students on upper-level undergraduate and taught Masters-level courses as well as postgraduate research students and cultural studies researchers more generally. It will be of enormous value across all fields of study involved in cultural enquiry and analysis.