Feminist Theory in Intergenerational Perspective

• Published in: The European journal of women's studies 2004-11, Vol.11 (4), p.461-472
• Main Authors: hoogland, renée c., de Vries, Petra, van der Tuin, Iris
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Epistemology; Feminism; Feminist Theory; Intellectual History; Intergenerational relationships
• ISSN: 1350-5068; 1461-7420
• DOI: 10.1177/1350506804046817

Three generations of feminists reflect on the passing of feminism & feminist theory from generation to generation. Petra A. de Vries was a member of the action group Dolle Mina, which she remembers as having reinvented feminist ideas & analyses that had not been passed down to her generation. She considers the nature of what is being passed on when she is teaching feminist thought before admitting some concern with respect to passing on feminism now in light of what life resembled at when feminism was still being (re)invented. She also notes that, with few exceptions, students have been excited about the women's studies courses offered them. renee c. hoogland represents the middle generation. She traces her intellectual development as a feminist to high school. She describes her foray into feminist criticism & poststructuralist feminist theory. As a teacher passing on feminism, her politics are her theories, which she employs to provide students with new ways of seeing. The youngest contributor, Iris van der Tuin, describes her experience of feminist consciousness-raising as an adolescent & the impact that women's studies had on the development of her ideas & concerns. She offers some remarks on teaching as a position of authority as well as on her experience teaching second-wave feminism, wherein she & her class constructed knowledge as a function of the learning situation's implications. 6 References. J. Zendejas