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"Feminist studies is an expression of the theoretical and interdisciplinary underpinnings of women's and gender studies. It is a diverse and ever-changing field that is contoured by the goal of understanding and theorizing the ways that social life is organized by complex "relations of ruling" that shape "everyday life" (Smith 1990). These are manifest within social, political, cultural, and economic institutions, social media, and everyday interactions. While feminist studies has a long history, it became institutionalized in academia beginning in the 1970s, through courses offered in different disciplines like English, History, Sociology, or Anthropology before Women's Studies programs were established and interdisciplinary courses developed. The presence and expression of Feminist Studies varies within disciplines and interdisciplines, and across regions, as demonstrated by the authors of the twenty-four chapters in this Companion. This chapter provides an overview of the Companion to Feminist Studies that is organized around three different dimensions that are key components of the field: Feminist Epistemologies and Its Discontents, Methodological Diversity, and Feminist Praxis"--

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Editors -- Editor -- Managing Editor -- Notes on Contributors -- Acknowledgments -- Editors -- Part I Introduction -- Chapter 1 The Diversity and Academic Institutionalization of Sexuality Studies -- History of Sexuality Studies -- Diversity within Sexuality Studies -- Conclusion -- References -- Part II Theoretical and Methodological Diversity -- Chapter 2 Sexology -- Introduction -- The Development of Sexology: Two Narratives -- Sexology and the State -- Sexology, Race, and Processes of "Othering" -- In Response to Patients' Concerns: Agency in the Construction of Sexological Knowledge -- Sexology Between the Progressive and the Conservative -- Sexology Today: (Bio)Medicalization and Commodification of Sexuality -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 3 Sexualities in Historical Comparative Perspective -- Introduction -- Sexuality in Traditional Societies -- Making the Modern World -- Conclusion: The History of the History of Sexuality -- References -- Chapter 4 Postcolonial Sexualities -- Introduction -- Defining Postcolonialisms and Sexualities -- The Sexual Histories of European Colonialism and their Postcolonial Legacies -- Consequences for Sexuality Politics in Specific Places -- Concluding Remarks -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 5 Queer Theory -- Theoretical and Institutional Origins -- To Be or To Question Being, That is the Project (Hallmarks of Queer Theory) -- Fad or Forever: The Present and Potential Future of Queer Theory -- The Uneasy Relationship between Queer Theory and Sociology -- Critiques -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 6 Queer Methodologies and Social Science -- Setting the Premise -- Method and Methodology -- Queer, Queer Theory, Queering -- The Need for Queer Methodologies -- What Constitutes Queer Methodologies? -- The Question of Methods.

"Women's and Gender Studies is an ever-changing field of academic inquiry that was born out of women's movement organizing in Western countries within and outside colleges and universities in the late 1960s and 1970s. The story surrounding the development of Women's and Gender Studies is often told through a U.S.-centric lens; but it is incomplete or, even misguided, without acknowledging the diversity of sites outside the U.S. that helped shape the field both within and outside of the academy. The Companion to Women's and Gender Studies attempts to correct some of the gaps and misrepresentations of the field, broadly defined, including attention to international, postcolonial, intersectional, and interdisciplinary insights from scholars in different parts of the world"--

"In the current historical moment borders have taken on heightened material and symbolic significance, shaping identities and the social and political landscape. "Borders"--defined broadly to include territorial dividing lines as well as sociocultural boundaries--have become increasingly salient sites of struggle over social belonging and cultural and material resources. How do contemporary activists navigate and challenge these borders? What meanings do they ascribe to different social, cultural and political boundaries, and how do these meanings shape the strategies in which they engage? Moreover, how do these social movements confront internal borders based on the differences that emerge within social change initiatives? Border Politics, edited by Nancy A. Naples and Jennifer Bickham Mendez, explores these important questions through eleven carefully selected case studies situated in geographic contexts around the globe. By conceptualizing struggles over identity, social belonging and exclusion as extensions of border politics, the authors capture the complex ways in which geographic, cultural, and symbolic dividing lines are blurred and transcended, but also fortified and redrawn. This volume notably places right-wing and social justice initiatives in the same analytical frame to identify patterns that span the political spectrum. Border Politics offers a lens through which to understand borders as sites of diverse struggles, as well as the strategies and practices used by diverse social movements in today's globally interconnected world. Contributors: Phillip Ayoub, Renata Blumberg, Yvonne Braun, Moon Charania, Michael Dreiling, Jennifer Johnson, Jesse Klein, Andrej Kurnik, Sarah Maddison, Duncan McDuie-Ra, Jennifer Bickham Mendez, Nancy A. Naples, David Paternotte, Maple Razsa, Raphi Rechitsky, Kyle Rogers, Deana Rohlinger, Cristina Sanidad, Meera Sehgal, Tara Stamm, Michelle Te;llez"--

In developing strategies to contest the systematic efforts to dismantle progressive social and economic policies generated through decades of activism, it is important to understand how discursive frames that were significant in social justice organizing in the United States have come to be subjugated, delegitimated, or co-opted, and have lost their power for social justice activism. Using a materialist feminist approach, I first examine the processes of subjugation and explore how movement actors choose frames within bounded discursive fields that become institutionalized, but lose critical feminist or progressive intent. I then discuss the delegitimation of a citizen's right to government support and the co-optation of progressive movement frames by conservative groups. I conclude with a materialist feminist call to attend to the multiple institutions (i.e., the state, law, market, and media) that contour the discursive field and the everyday practices of social movement organizations. This is a call for collective research, since no single case can attend to all of these dimensions and processes.