open swim

[Heidi M Minning]

Nice to see some activity on this list! Sorry if this is redundant or out of
place.

Regarding question zero and the issue of 'feminist political stance' for
GALA - a better wording than 'be' a feminist organization - but still
controversial for many list subscribers. Are there principles which cut
across the various feminist, non-feminist, queer, etc., stances expressed so
far?

An earlier posting by Sara mentioned a stance I find very appealing, that of
"'affirming' diversity." A possible goal which stands out in my
recollection, borrowing from a Feb. posting by Deborah Cameron, could be to
encourage "gender scholarship which engages in dialogue with feminist
politics."

I would like GALA to provide a forum for discussing ways of making
ourselves, as lg. and gender scholars, accountable to the people we study
(where applicable), to their communities, and to our own communities. The
questions regarding conferences (virtual or otherwise) are important; how
can we go beyond this level of dissemination, to make findings
available/accessible to individuals studied, local communities, educational
administrators and practitioners, governing bodies, industry, etc.. This
seems to me to be an issue which is underrepresented in the academy and in
other professional organizations (not to discount some excellent panels and
publications on the topic).

Heidi