Feminists have often called Women's Studies the 'academic arm of the women's movement.' But Daphne Patai and Noretta Koertge charge that the attempt to make Women's Studies serve a political agenda has led to deeply problematic results: dubious scholarship, pedagogical practices that resemble indoctrination more than education, and the alienation of countless potential supporters. In this new and expanded edition of their controversial 1994 book, the authors update their analysis of what's gone wrong with Women's Studies programs. Original chapters feature interviews with professors, students, and staffers who invested much time and effort in Women's Studies, and new chapters look primarily at documents recently generated from within Women's Studies itself. Through critiques of actual program mission statements, course descriptions, newsletters, and e-mail lists devoted to feminist pedagogy and Women's Studies, and, not least, the writings of well-known feminist scholars, Patai and Koertge provide a detailed and devastating examination of the routine practices found in feminist teaching and research.

Women's Words is the first collection of writings devoted exclusively to exploring the theoretical, methodological, and practical problems that arise when women utilize oral history as a tool of feminist scholarship. In thirteen multi-disciplin ary esays, the book takes stock of the implicit presuppositions , contradictions, and prospects of oral history at the hands of feminist scholars.

This volume brings together for the first time more than two dozen of Daphne PataiOs incisive and at times satirical essays dealing with the academic and intellectual orthodoxies of our time. Patai draws on her years of experience in an increasingly bizarre academic world, where a stifling politicization threatens genuine teaching and learning. Addressing the rise of feminist dogma, the domination of politics over knowledge, the shoddy thinking and moralizing that hide behind identity politics, and the degradation of scholarship, her essays offer a resounding defense of liberal values. Patai takes aim at the unctuous and also dangerous posturing that has brought us restrictive speech codes, harassment policies, and a vigilante atmosphere, while suppressing plain speaking about crucial issues. But these trenchant essays are not limited to academic life, for the ideas and practices popularized there have spread far beyond campus borders. Included are two new pieces written especially for this volume, one on the bullying tactics of a famous feminist and the other on Islamic fundamentalism.

Examines, through the eyes of eighteen scholars in the field, the critical questions confronting oral history as a feminist methodology.

Not too long ago, literary theorists were writing about the death of the novel and the death of the author; today many are talking about the death of Theory. Theory, as the many theoretical ism's (among them postcolonialism, postmodernism, and New Historicism) are now known, once seemed so exciting but has become ossified and insular. This iconoclastic collection is an excellent companion to current anthologies of literary theory, which have embraced an uncritical stance toward Theory and its practitioners. Written by nearly fifty prominent scholars, the essays in "Theory's Empire" question the ideas, catchphrases, and excesses that have let Theory congeal into a predictable orthodoxy. More than just a critique, however, this collection provides readers with effective tools to redeem the study of literature, restore reason to our intellectual life, and redefine the role and place of Theory in the academy.

FRAMING THEORY'S EMPIRE started life as a "book event"-an online, roundtable-style symposium on THEORY'S EMPIRE (Columbia UP, 2005). Two dozen contributors offered reviews, criticism, and commentary. Now in book form, it includes a preface by Scott McLemee and afterthoughts from THEORY'S EMPIRE'S editors. WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID . . . As the Theory Era draws to a close, we need more than ever intelligent rumination and debate over what it all meant. THEORY'S EMPIRE was an important step in that direction. Framing THEORY'S EMPIRe carries on the conversation with sophistication and flair. -Denis Dutton, editor, PHILOSOPHY & LITERATURE . . . It's rare for authors to have their work be the object of a lengthy, detailed, serious and lively dialogue shortly after its publication. John Holbo's commitment to using the Internet as an instrument for bringing about precisely such a dialogue is a wonderful example of how new technologies can enhance the quality of our intellectual exchanges. And to make that lively dialogue be the object of another book, on-line and in hard copy, is a further contribution. -Daphne Patai, editor, THEORY'S EMPIRE . . . CONTRIBUTORS: Mark Bauerlein, Michael Berube, Timothy Burke, Chris Cagle, Christopher Conway, Will H. Corral, Jodi Dean, Brad DeLong, Morris Dickstein, John Emerson, Jonathan Goodwin, Daniel Green, Matt Greenfield, John Holbo, Mark Kaplan, Scott Eric Kaufman, Adam Kotsko, Kathleen Lowrey, Jonathan Mayhew, Sean McCann, Scott McLemee, John McGowan, Daphne Patai, Kenneth Rufo, Amardeep Sing, and Jeffrey Wallen

"Rediscovering Forgotten Radicals" reintroduces the work of writers and activists whose texts, and often whose very lives, were passionately engaged in the major political issues of their times but who have been displaced from both the historical and the literary record. Focusing on seventeen writers whose common concern was radically to change the status quo, this collection of thirteen essays challenges not only the neglect of these particular writers but also the marginalization of women from British political life and literary history. This volume's recuperation of them alters our appraisal of their literary period and defines their influence on struggles still very much alive today--including the suffrage movement, feminism, anti-vivisection, reproductive rights, trade unionism, pacifism, and socialism. The radicals of 1889-1939, whether or not widely read in their own day, speak in different ways to the 'intelligent discontent' of many people in our time.
Originally published in 1993.
A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

Twenty Brazilian women, including domestic servants, secretaries, nuns, hairdressers, prostitutes, schoolgirls, and entrepreneurs, discuss their lives.

This volume brings together for the first time more than two dozen of Daphne PataiOs incisive and at times satirical essays dealing with the academic and intellectual orthodoxies of our time. Patai draws on her years of experience in an increasingly bizarre academic world, where a stifling politicization threatens genuine teaching and learning. Addressing the rise of feminist dogma, the domination of politics over knowledge, the shoddy thinking and moralizing that hide behind identity politics, and the degradation of scholarship, her essays offer a resounding defense of liberal values. Patai takes aim at the unctuous and also dangerous posturing that has brought us restrictive speech codes, harassment policies, and a vigilante atmosphere, while suppressing plain speaking about crucial issues. But these trenchant essays are not limited to academic life, for the ideas and practices popularized there have spread far beyond campus borders. Included are two new pieces written especially for this volume, one on the bullying tactics of a famous feminist and the other on Islamic fundamentalism.

Not too long ago, literary theorists were writing about the death of the novel and the death of the author; today many are talking about the death of Theory. Theory, as the many theoretical ism's (among them postcolonialism, postmodernism, and New Historicism) are now known, once seemed so exciting but has become ossified and insular. This iconoclastic collection is an excellent companion to current anthologies of literary theory, which have embraced an uncritical stance toward Theory and its practitioners. Written by nearly fifty prominent scholars, the essays in "Theory's Empire" question the ideas, catchphrases, and excesses that have let Theory congeal into a predictable orthodoxy. More than just a critique, however, this collection provides readers with effective tools to redeem the study of literature, restore reason to our intellectual life, and redefine the role and place of Theory in the academy.

Feminists have often called Women's Studies the "academic arm of the women's movement." But Daphne Patai and Noretta Koertge charge that the attempt to make Women's Studies serve a political agenda has led to deeply problematic results: dubious scholarship, pedagogical practices that resemble indoctrination more than education, and the alienation of countless potential supporters. In this new and expanded edition of their controversial 1994 book, the authors update their analysis of what's gone wrong with Women's Studies programs. Original chapters feature interviews with professors, students, and staffers who invested much time and effort in Women's Studies, and new chapters look primarily at documents recently generated from within Women's Studies itself. Through critiques of actual program mission statements, course descriptions, newsletters, and e-mail lists devoted to feminist pedagogy and Women's Studies, and, not least, the writings of well-known feminist scholars, Patai and Koertge provide a detailed and devastating examination of the routine practices found in feminist teaching and research.

What does it mean to be a feminist today? Should women require special legislation to protect them from sexual harassment? Daphne Patai's controversial look at the nation's current epidemic of sexual harassment charges answers these questions and illuminates complex ideological struggles within contemporary feminism. By investigating the ongoing attempts to regulate sexual conduct, Heterophobia argues that women's pursuit of a 'comfortable' environment has created a feminist-induced hostility toward men and heterosexuality. Patai identifies the origins and evolution of 'the sexual harassment industry,' and she presents cases of those men and women whose lives were ruined by false or frivolous charges of harassment. A scathing criticism of political and sexual 'correctness,' this thought-provoking and powerfully argued book is sure to incite debate among all Americans concerned with the legacy and future of women's rights.

One hundred years after the publication of Looking Backward, Bellamy remains a controversial figure in American literary and social history. The collection of essays in this volume, commemorating the novel's appearance in 1888, attests to his continued importance.