Dec. 21, 1999

My goals in this section are twofold: to trace a rough historical outline of some of the significant feminist theoretical themes (focusing primarily on the late 20^th century, but with a nod to second wave and early liberal feminist theories), and to focus primarily on issues of subjectivity, identity, and praxis. I would like to observe relationships between theorists, trace the development of these particular ideas, and to apply these theoretical concerns to the area of specialization. This segment of the problematic does not attempt to engage directly with the area of specialization, but rather with the questions raised by feminist theorists in the general area of subjectivity, identity, and praxis, which can then be applied to it.

I will attempt to frame the discussion in two ways: "internally" and "externally". By "internally", I mean to critically examine the arguments, theoretical grounding (historical and contemporary), and internal logic of each author, understanding her work in relation to itself and its academic "category". By "externally", I mean to develop a network of relationships between authors, making connections and showing interplay between theoretical streams, concepts, and themes. In addition, I mean to examine what implications exist for political strategizing and praxis. In other words, I intend to ask what each author is saying (with a focus on the particular issues identified above), how and why they say it, how their work relates to other authors', and what each work ultimately means for future theoretical work and feminist praxis (not to imply that the two are mutually exclusive).

Some of the questions which have suggested themselves in the course of my reading are: How have feminists understood subjectivity and identity (both as an individual construct, and as a larger political concept) in the context of their particular theoretical concerns? How have feminists, particularly recent authors, struggled with developing a model of subjectivity and identity which takes account of both unity and differences among women? What analytical models have they found useful theoretically and politically, what assumptions inform these models, and what are some of the difficulties with adopting these models? In what theoretical, historical, and political context have these models been developed by feminists? How can each work on the list be understood individually and in relation to the other works on the reading list (what points of commonality and difference exist)? Finally, what analytical models of subjectivity and identity are useful for understanding feminist discourse around and intervention into technoculture, the area of specialization?