Gender, development and social change

Unlike many other mainstream disciplines that only seek to broaden knowledge and thus become additive, women's studies try to question and posit new ways of thinking, inaugurating paradigm shifts and thus becoming subversive by trying to question established hierarchies of knowledge. This has not been an easy journey and the practitioners of this new approach have faced numerous odds as all pioneering endeavours encounter. This journey is a story that needs to be told and the present book attempts to do this by charting the trajectories of few women's studies scholars and their academic sojourn. These scholars have been confined not just to the traditional dominant hierarchies of knowledge but by their own making, ventured into new areas, which has now emerged from the margins to the forefront. The point of emphasis is that the writings of scholars like Cynthia Enloe who dared to break boundaries and were questioned earlier have now become part of an acclaimed field of research. This volume explores the metamorphosis of women's studies from the early days to date and draws upon the contributors' diverse experiences and concerns, but all revolving around the same key issue: gender.