Begona Crespo

Queering Women's and Gender Studies Begona Crespo

This volume brings together approaches to, and perspectives on, English, Spanish, and Galician language, literature, and culture from the fields of women's, gender, and queer studies. As its title reflects, the book adopts an inclusive attitude to the so-called "others" present in these fields. Since queer theory first appeared in academia, its influence has been notorious within both women's and genders. As such, it is vital to "queer" academia so that it re-conceptualises its foundations; indeed, the contributions here serve to alter the reader's consciousness of the terms "woman" and "gender". The first chapters concern the field of discourse analysis. Two discuss the written work of female scientists in the Late Modern Era and their role in society. Another deals with women's political discourse in South America. In the following section on literature, the contributors question the current heteronormative and androcentric ways of reading texts. The works on culture study contemporary genres, such as video games, video clips, and pieces of news, and take readers away from Europe. The Epilogue draws on the book's intersubjective spirit to propose a dialogue, among multiple disciplines and the people who practise them. As such, the volume reflects the eclectic nature of queer, women's, and gender studies, and their world-wide acceptance by the scholarly community.