Feminism and Social Theory in Geography: An Introduction (original) (raw)

2007, Professional Geographer

This essay introduces a collection of articles based on papers developed for a Fall 2004 speaker series at the University of Minnesota. The articles address the continued relevance of feminist geography and the unique contributions of feminist perspectives in various areas of geographic research. They also point out directions for needed future research. This introduction briefly reviews the successes of and remaining challenges to feminist geography, including material inequities yet unresolved in two other (nonresearch) ''places'' of academic life: teaching and the workplace. We discuss the ongoing underrepresentation of women and people of color on our faculties and in the front of classrooms. Key Words: antiracist geography, critical theory, feminist geography, marginalization, social theory. *We would like to thank several members of our department for their support of the 2004 Feminist Speaker Series, particularly our chair at that time, John S. Adams, without whose support the series would not have been possible. Eric Sheppard and Gwen McCrea were key members of the planning process. The series was given logistical, moral, and curricular support by Glen Powell, Helga Leitner, and Arun Saldanha. We would also like to thank the members of Supporting Women in Geography and various faculty members who helped host and welcome our speakers, and the students and faculty from across campus who attended the series and participated in its conversations. Finally, we are grateful to Tiffany Muller, Eric Sheppard, and Arun Saldanha for their helpful comments on this article.