Feminist Theorizing as a Conversation

ABSTRACT

This article presents an analysis of conversation as a model for feminist theorizing. It explores the sources of resistance to this model, as these have been expressed by the author's students and by various writers. It elaborates what conversation might mean as a way of thinking about the practices of feminist theorizing, using the ideas of reflexivity and collaboration as key dimensions for understanding what we do when we theorize. The article presents some examples of reflexive, conversational theorizing and argues that this way of understanding the project of constructing feminist theories is empowering because it reveals that theorizing is a political act. When we theorize we build relationships and shape agreements that allow us to share and rework the life we live in common with others.