Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Comment on this article   Feminist International Relations (IR), in all its multiplicities, is a political project that critiques, exposes, and transforms the (re)production of knowledge and practice within the discipline of “IR” and the arena of “world politics.” Beginning with these epistemological principles, we look at the discipline of “IR” and its differing major theoretical inquiries (e.g., realism, liberalism, constructivism, poststructuralism, and postcolonialism) to inquire the ways feminism(s) and IR have arisen intimately, in identity, alliance, or antagonism to each other, and to explore under what conditions they link to one another today. For instance, what has international relations meant when women, gender, sexuality, class, and race have been introduced as largely unexamined questions or contested categories of analysis? How have feminism(s) and their racial formations been constituted in the process of being “globally” and “locally” positioned in the field? More specifically, this essay discusses differing feminist IR epistemologies to highlight the intricacies of global power that privilege some global bodies while eliding and exploiting others. The histories of feminist IR necessitate a transnational attention to race, class, gender, and sexual axes of power as part of global politics and the discipline of IR. This essay foregrounds women of color, queer ... log in or subscribe to read full text