Women’s Studies and Its Institutionalization as an Interdisciplinary Field: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract:To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of WSQ, this article offers a snapshot of the history of women’s studies (WS), one that establishes it as an interdisciplinary field alongside Black studies and ethnic studies. It also provides a roundtable among scholars who were integral to the formation of a PhD in WS program, strategies for small undergraduate departments and programs in an era of consolidation and elimination, and a call to reenvision the field’s purpose. In addition to arguing for solidarity and collaboration between women’s, gender, sexuality, and feminist (W/G/S/F), Black studies, and ethnic studies, it asks scholars-teachers to reimagine its curricula and research and writing practices as a method of un-disciplining. This is not a simple return to its roots though its history matters in addressing the pressing social justice concerns of the twenty-first century.