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Discusses the relationship of women's studies to the discipline of philosophy, drawing on personal experiece as a feminist philosopher. Traditionally, philosophy has been dominated by a male perspective that privileges a combative culture, a disembodied form of reason, & a preference for analysis of themes & issues pertinent to the public rather than private sphere. In this climate, feminism has been pushed to the margins of philosophy, forcing women to choose between success on the discipline's terms or migration to women's studies programs. In arguing that women philosophers should continue to inhabit the borderlands between philosophy & women's studies, three dangers in inhabiting this space are raised: the tendency to turn philosophy into an exercise in literary analysis; (2) the tendency to make feminist arguments inaccessible to educated readers; & (3) the tendency to base one's work solely on linguistic or psychoanalytic theories. It is concluded that feminists can continue to occupy the borderlands by maintaining a commitment both to political engagement & to critical scrutiny. 14 References. D. M. Ryfe

Introduces an edited vol that examines the borderlands (1) between feminisms & conventional ways of knowing & (2) between various feminisms. Contributions share a focus on the borderlands between the academy & outside groups, organizations, & audiences. Historically, women have always existed at the margins of the academy. Their reaction to this status has been to construct feminist theories that eventually became part of the mainstream academy. This success has produced a loss of certainty & purpose in feminist circles as disciplines have fragmented along various epistemic & ontological lines. It is concluded that this fragmentation must be dealt with on the basis of a politics of location that insists that all knowledge is grounded in specific & contextualized acts of knowing. D. M. Ryfe

Considers feminist studies of religion as existing on the borderlands of debates over the appropriate methods & objects of scholarly religious investigations. Since the 1980s, there has been a dramatic increase in feminist writings on questions of gender & the variety of world religions. These writings have challenged Christian orthodoxy, called attention to issues of global & cultural diversity, & constructed a notion of women's centered spirituality. Much of this work has interrogated the mythic structures of the Judeo-Christian tradition & has sought to retrieve women's role in the history of the church. Part of this effort has been dedicated to exposing the misogyny endemic to traditional religious practices, but another part of it has been to innovate new spiritual & mystical discourses. It is suggested that, for feminist religious thought to achieve its goals, it must become more scholarly, rigorous, & committed to translate its theories into social practice. 42 References. D. M. Ryfe