Publisher Description

Women's International Thought: A New History is the first cross-disciplinary history of women's international thought. Bringing together some of the foremost historians and scholars of international relations working today, this book recovers and analyses the path-breaking work of eighteen leading thinkers of international politics from the early to mid-twentieth century. Recovering and analyzing this important work, the essays offer revisionist accounts of IR's intellectual and disciplinary history and expand the locations, genres, and practices of international thinking. Systematically structured, and focusing in particular on Black diasporic, Anglo-American, and European historical women, it does more than 'add women' to the existing intellectual and disciplinary histories from which they were erased. Instead, it raises fundamental questions about which kinds of subjects and what kind of thinking constitutes international thought, opening new vistas to scholars and students of international history and theory, intellectual history and women's and gender studies.

Author Biography

Patricia Owens is Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford. Her previous publications include Economy of Force (2015), winner of BISA's Susan Strange Prize, Between War and Politics (2007) and co-editor of The Globalization of World Politics (2020). She is a former fellow of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and Proctor Fellow at Princeton University. Katharina Rietzler is Lecturer in American History at the University of Sussex. She is currently completing a book on American philanthropy, International Relations and the problem of the public, 1913–1954. Her work has appeared in journals such as Modern Intellectual History, Diplomatic History and the Journal of Global History. She is a former Mellon Fellow in American History at the University of Cambridge.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements Patricia Owens and Katharina Rietzler; Introduction: Toward a History of Women's International Thought Patricia Owens and Katharina Rietzler; I. Canonical Thinkers: 1. Anna Julia Cooper on Slavery's Afterlife: Can International Thought 'Hear' Her 'Muffled' Voice and Ideas? Vivian M. May; 2. Revolutionary Thinking: Luxemburg's Socialist International Theory Kimberley Hutchings; 3. Of Colonialism and Corpses: Simone Weil on Force Helen M. Kinsella; 4. Ideas in Action: Eslanda Robeson's International Thought After 1945 Imaobong Umoren; II. Outsiders: 5. Elizabeth Lippincott McQueen: Thinking International Peace in an Air-Minded Age Tamson Pietsch; 6. Women of the Twenty Years' Crisis: The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and the Problem of Collective Security Lucian Ashworth; 7. Theorizing (with) Amy Ashwood Garvey Robbie Shilliam; 8. 'The Dark Skin[ned] People of the Eastern World': Mittie Maude Lena Gordon's Vision of Afro-Asian Solidarity Keisha N. Blain; 9. Elizabeth Wiskemann, Scholar-Journalist, and the Study of International Relations Geoffrey Field; III. Thinking In or Around the Academy: 10. From F. Melian Stawell to E. Greene Balch: International and Internationalist Thinking at the Gender Margins, 1919–1947 Glenda Sluga; 11. Race, Gender, Empire, and War in the International Thought of Emily Greene Balch Catia Confortini; 12. Beyond Illusions: Imperialism, Race and Technology in Merze Tate's International Thought Barbara Savage; 13. A Plan for Plenty: The International Thought of Barbara Wootton Or Rosenboim; 14. Collective Security for Common Men and Women: Vera Micheles Dean and U.S. Foreign Relations Andrew Jewett; 15. What Can We (She) Know About Sovereignty? Krystyna Marek and the Worldedness of International Law Natasha Wheatley.

Review

'A breath-taking eye-opener of a book and required reading for everyone studying international relations and the history of political thought. With cutting-edge scholarship … it reveals new horizons of internationalism, socialism, and solidarity. It unveils fierce critiques of the nation-state and imperialism, centres race and gender as topics within international thought, and reveals the ways in which the politics of race and gender have shaped the field. This book reshapes the field beautifully.' Hannah Dawson, King's College London
'This defies all conventions, categories, and canons to bring new, nuanced histories of women, intellectualism, and internationalism into view. With essays on socialist internationalist theory, war and empire, and global black liberation, these authors show that no study of internationalism - institutional or otherwise - can be complete without rigorous examination of women theorists.' Ashley D. Farmer, University of Texas, Austin
'This points the way to a renovation of our canon in a field first named by a woman in 1929. Portending a new historiography, the results so far correct, encourage, and reprimand all those who have tried to write the history of antiracism, human rights, and peace, among so many other international causes and frameworks.' Samuel Moyn, Yale University
'By recovering the international thought and practice of a diverse group of brilliant and dedicated women scholars and activists, this essential volume rewrites the history of the field. Often working under duress and at the edges of the academy, these thinkers nonetheless shaped understandings of – and galvanized engagement with – the pressing global problems of their times. We have much to learn from their work, and from their example.' Susan Pedersen, Columbia University
'This remarkable collection upends the unspoken consensus of virtually all of those who write about the foundational thinkers and ideas about international relations: that women never mattered.' Robert Vitalis, University of Pennsylvania
'… the book challenges the traditional IR canon and demonstrates how to uncover hidden discourses.' Jan Stöckmann, International Affairs

Promotional

The first cross-disciplinary history of women's international thought, analysing leading international thinkers of the twentieth century.

Review Quote

'A breath-taking eye-opener of a book and required reading for everyone studying international relations and the history of political thought. With cutting-edge scholarship ... it reveals new horizons of internationalism, socialism, and solidarity. It unveils fierce critiques of the nation-state and imperialism, centres race and gender as topics within international thought, and reveals the ways in which the politics of race and gender have shaped the field. This book reshapes the field beautifully.' Hannah Dawson, King's College London

Promotional "Headline"

The first cross-disciplinary history of women's international thought, analysing leading international thinkers of the twentieth century.

Description for Bookstore

This cross-disciplinary history of women's international thought brings together some of the foremost historians and scholars of international relations today to recover and analyse the path-breaking work of eighteen leading thinkers of international politics from the early to mid-twentieth century.

Description for Library

This cross-disciplinary history of women's international thought brings together some of the foremost historians and scholars of international relations today to recover and analyse the path-breaking work of eighteen leading thinkers of international politics from the early to mid-twentieth century.

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