Higher Ground: From Utopianism to Realism in American Feminist Thought and Theory

by Sally L. Kitch

Book Overview

Many feminists love a utopia--the idea of restarting humanity from scratch or transforming human nature in order to achieve a prescribed future based on feminist visions. Some scholars argue that feminist utopian fiction can be used as a template for creating such a future. However, Sally L. Kitch argues that associating feminist thought with utopianism is a mistake.

Drawing on the history of utopian thought, as well as on her own research...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226438570
• ISBN13: 9780226438573
• Release Date: July 2000
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A STIMULATING STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF FEMINISTS WITH "UTOPIA"

Sally Kitch (chair of the Women's Studies dept. at Ohio State University) has also written several other books relating to utopias (e.g., THIS STRANGE SOCIETY OF WOMEN: READING THE LETTERS AND LIVES OF THE WOM (The Helen Hooven Santmyer Prize in Women's Studies)). In the Foreward by Catharine Stimpson (author of books such as Women and the American City), she summarizes, "Because Kitch has come to doubt utopianism, the fact of its pervasiveness in feminist action, theory, and pedagogy deeply concerns her." Kitch begins by stating, "Feminists love a utopia. At least many of us do. And why not? In order to think about feminist ideas and goals, we are almost forced, like utopian planners, to imagine societies that have never existed." But she adds, "I remain fascinated with utopian designs in both experimental communities and fiction, but I no longer consider utopianism the best approach for conceptualizing feminist social change, and I no longer consider feminist utopian fiction or designs the primary sources of responsible and constructive feminist theory." Her thesis is that "without utopianism, feminism becomes a richer and more dynamic system of thought. It allows the continual interplay of simultaneously held but diverse and sometimes contradictory 'truths' about women's lives and the concept of gender, gender differences, equality in the face of difference ... and scores of similar contingencies." This book will be of considerable interest to those interested in women's studies and utopian studies.