About the Global Feminisms Project at the University of Michigan

The 'Global Feminisms Project' was funded, beginning in 2002, by a major grant from the Rackham Graduate School, with additional funding provided by the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, the Women's Studies Program, and the Center for South Asian Studies at the University of Michigan.

By documenting individual life stories of activists and scholars, and considering them in their particular historical and cultural contexts, the project records important differences in women's activism in specific local sites, and questions constructions of 'global' feminism that assume a common (Western) set of issues as universal to all women. In addition, the project questions conventional notions of global feminism as the "internationalization of the women's movement," which often assumes a transfer eastward of western feminist ideals. Each site has independently developed its list of interviewees, thereby selecting on their own terms the issues that represent aspects of their national histories and women's movement histories, as well as who should represent them,. The four research teams met twice to review each other's materials and to discuss the disparate ideas about the body, the public-private divide, the state, law & jurisprudence, and publishing that have emerged from the interviews.

Working at the intersections of the local and global, we hope the collection of life histories can offer scholars and students a nuanced understanding of the dense historical relations, and long history of mutually influential interactions, among women's movements in and feminist scholarship from different countries and regions. We hope the completed archives from this project, consisting of written transcripts, along with the videotaped interviews, will be a resource for future research on the histories of feminism. These materials will be deposited at each site, thus creating an international network of archives of oral histories that document women's scholarship and activism. In addition, we are developing a variety of model curricular uses for the narratives--for courses introducing women's studies scholarship, as well as courses on "global feminism," on methods, on activism, and in the disciplines. These curricular issues will be explored in September, 2006 at a conference at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Resulting materials will eventually be posted on this website.

Biographical Sketches of Project Members

Project Coordinators

Abigail Stewart - Overall Project Coordinator
Jayati Lal - Overall Project Coordinator
Kristin McGuire - Overall Project Coordinator

Project Interns

Desi Rios - Overall Project Intern
Nicola Curtin - Conference Planning Intern
Zakiya Luna - U.S. Site Intern
Justyna Pas - U.S. based Poland Site Intern
Ying Zhang - U.S. based China Site Intern

Site: China

Wang Jinling - China Site Coordinator
Wang Zheng - U.S. based China Site Coordinator
Ying Zhang - U.S. based China Site Intern

Site: India

C.S. Lakshmi - India Site Coordinator

Site: Poland

Sławomira Walczewska - Poland Site Coordinator
Magdalena Zaborowska - U.S. based Poland Site Coordinator
Justyna Pas - U.S. based Poland Site Intern

Site: United States

Elizabeth Cole - U.S. Site Coordinator
Zakiya Luna - U.S. Site Intern

What's New

Global Feminisms DVDs are now available for purchase!

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Interview Transcripts & Contextual Materials:

China | India | Poland U.S. | Cross-Site

Note: About the Transcripts

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University of Michigan | Institute for Research on Women and Gender | Rackham Graduate School | Women's Studies Program

University of Michigan Global Feminisms Project
Institute for Research on Women and Gender • University of Michigan • 1136 Lane Hall Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1290
Phone: (734)764-9537 • Fax: (734)764-9533 • E-mail: um.gfp@umich.edu

The transcripts and other materials on this Web site are intended for educational and research use. Any other use must be authorized. For such authorization, please contact the relevant site(s). When using material from the interview transcripts and/or other materials on this Web site, we expect that sources will be properly credited.