The Future of Feminist Theory and Eighteenth-Century Studies

Abstract

Originally presented as part of a Women's Caucus Roundtable on the Future of Feminist Theory in Eighteenth-Century Studies at the 39th Annual ASECS Meeting in Portland in 2008, this essay makes the case that feminist theory and eighteenth-century studies have a mutually constitutive relation to one another. You cannot have feminist theory that is nuanced, intersectional, and able to think beyond heteronormative structures of identity without a deep understanding of its Enlightenment legacies—both positive and negative; without, that is, an understanding of feminism's own roots in an emerging modernity shaped by a range of class, national, and imperial projects and the various emancipatory movements that were bound up with them. By the same token, you cannot have a robust and historically responsible eighteenth-century studies without a nuanced understanding of feminist theory, as the wealth of feminist scholarship that has revolutionized the field over the past three decades clearly testifies. The changing face of feminist theory in the future will likely change the face of eighteenth-century studies and vice versa.