Editor's Note
It is March, the month designated by Congress as Women’s History Month, and so on many of our campuses it is a season for keynote addresses, film festivals, workshops, and other events highlighting women’s contributions, feminist movements, and ongoing struggles for change.
Yet, while historical recovery and reclamation are crucial, everyday violence against women, children, people of color, and the poor remain rampant. Today’s online edition of The Independent (UK) reports that in Afghanistan nine civilians, including four children, were killed when US planes dropped two massive bombs on their mud home. Their deaths came after at least eight civilians were killed by U.S. Marines a day earlier. This week’s New York Times Magazine features a cover story on the brutal experiences of American women soldiers serving in Iraq, including rampant sexual harassment.
We all may feel outrage and despair over the daily news, but how many of us feel that there are spaces and movements where we might activate potent resistance, and build more life-loving and democratic cultures? In the in the wake of our failed efforts to prevent war in Iraq, to oust the Bush regime, and to curtail draconian anti-terrorist policies, American progressives seem to be battling a severe sense of powerlessness. For feminist scholars and teachers, I wonder how celebrations of “women’s accomplishments” might help to invigorate our own projects and commitments.
In this issue of SWIPnews we mourn the recent deaths of Iris Marion Young, one of our own beloved members, Eva Gothlin, a feminist scholar of the work of Beauvoir, and Molly Ivins and Tillie Olson—four women whose brilliant work exemplified passionate and effective politics of creativity and resistance, and helped to shape contemporary feminist understandings of the world. Through the pain and sorrow of loss it is sometimes possible to find new inspiration. The memorial session for Iris Young held at the Eastern APA this last December was filled with happy memories, compelling stories, and reflections on the terrific importance of Iris’ philosophical work. I imagine that for many of us it was also an opportunity to reflect on mortality and impermanence, and on our love and appreciation for the many wonderful people in the room. In community we can gain strength and wisdom from our connections, and so it is in the midst of others that we are most likely to renew our hope.
This issue also includes a great array of new books in feminist philosophy, upcoming conferences, calls for papers, and other important news and announcements. We hope that our new electronic format will provide easy access to information that will help you remain as connected and involved as you’d like to be. Thank you to Stephanie Allen, graduate student at the University of Georgia, for her excellent design and technical work, and for getting the new version of SWIPnews up and running.
The next issue of SWIPnews will be published in October 2007. We always welcome your submissions, feedback, and questions. Contact us at swipnews@yahoo.com.
