RETHINKING, RETURNING, REFLECTING

ABSTRACT. After almost four decades of feminist International Relations (IR), I here rethink the journey this has entailed – for myself and others -- and contemplate where it has taken us. I first consider my own introduction to the discipline of IR and interpret activist commitments of the ‘first generation’ of participants. I then return to early developments and initial questions that fostered boundary-transgressing feminist contributions. Recalling three ‘imagined’ critical conversations – regarding empirical criteria, epistemological frames and normative/political strategies – I then reflect on the feminist journey of many into, within, and increasingly beyond the constraining boundaries of disciplinary IR.

Keywords: Feminist IR, Gender, Critical Theories, Epistemology, Intersectionality.

RETHINKING, RETURNING, REFLECTING V. Spike PETERSON Alternatif Politika, Cilt 9, Sayı 3, Ekim 2017