In this introductory session, we will be exploring some of the key concepts central to the module, and asking what difference feminism makes to research. We will also use this session to introduce our own research interests and to begin thinking about how this module might contribute to that ongoing work.

Copies of the Key Readings will be available during Week 1. Please email me, and I'll arrange a copy for you.

Seminar Questions:

• What is feminist research?
• What difference does feminism make to research?
• Why have epistemological questions been so central to feminist theory and research?
• What is the relationship between method, methodology and epistemology in feminist research?
• Is there a feminist way of knowing?

Key Readings:

Brooks, A and Hesse-Biber, S N (2007) "An invitation to feminist research". In Hesse-Biber, S N and Brooks, A (eds) Feminist Research Practice: A Primer London: Sage

Maynard, M (1994) "Methods, practice and epistemology: the debate about feminism and research". In Maynard M and Purvis, J (eds) Researching Women's Lives from a Feminist Perspective London: Taylor & Francis

Further readings

Alcoff, L and Potter E (eds) 1993) "Introduction: When feminisms intersect epistemology". In Feminist Epistemologies London: Routledge

Gunew, S (ed) (1991) A Reader in Feminist Knowledge London: Routledge

Harding, S (1991) "Chapter 5: What is feminist epistemology?" In Whose Science? Whose Knowledge? Thinking from Women's Lives Buckingham: OUP

Harding, S (1987) "Introduction: Is there a feminist method?" and "Conclusion: epistemological questions" In Harding, S (ed) Feminism and Methodology Bloomington: Indiana University Press

Jagger, and Bordo, S (eds) (1989) Gender/Body/Knowledge: Feminist Reconstructions of Being and Knowing Rutgers University Press (especially Part II: Feminist ways of knowing)

Lennon, K and Whitford, M (eds) (1994) Knowing the Difference: Feminist Perspectives in Epistemology London: Routledge

Ramazanoglu, C and Holland, J (2002) Feminist Methodology: Challenges and Choices London: Sage

Stanley, L and Wise, S (1993) Breaking Out Again: Feminist Ontology and Epistemology London: Routledge

Stanley, L (1992) Is there a lesbian epistemology? Manchester