Introduction

Unlike many mainstream disciplines that only seek to broaden knowledge and add to it, and thus become additive, women’s studies tries 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, just as all pioneering endeavors encounter. This is a story that needs to be told, and this book attempts to do this by charting the trajectories of a few women’s studies scholars and their academic sojourn. These scholars have not been confined to the traditional dominant hierarchies of knowledge but by their own making, they have ventured into new areas, which have now emerged from the margins to the forefront. The point of emphasis is that the writings of scholars such as Cynthia Enloe (Chapter 1), who dared to break boundaries and were questioned earlier, have now become part of an acclaimed field of research. This volume precisely locates the metamorphosis of this transition from the early days till the contemporary, and draws upon their diverse experiences and concerns while being focused on one major concern: the gender question.