Rewriting Feminisms
Ingrid Hoofd, EN6217, National University of Singapore.

This project is a preliminary attempt to, with the use of new technologies, create a multi-linear and multi-teleological overview of feminist theories of the past century. I do this for a number of reasons:
Firstly, there have been numerous debates within feminist theories about how to conceive of a historiography of feminist ideas that can in some sense be inclusive to all the different strands that either quite overtly or obliquely constitute this interdisciplinary body of knowledge. These debates are born out of several critiques on and paradoxes within the current representation of this body of knowledge: namely the postmodernist critique on mono-teleological accounts of history, the critique on the Westerness, whiteness and middle-classness of hegemonic feminist historiography, and the paradox I signal that seems to be inherent to feminist academic scholarship today.
Second, this project is an attempt to experiment with integrating both the theories on and the technological practices of current new media and technologies in the field of feminism, and see if this body of knowledge somehow can gain from such a cross-over of disciplines. Theoretical approaches will include the reconceptions of writing, reading and authorship caused by both poststructuralist theories and new media technologies, and the notion of remediation of traditional feminist academic texts into a hypermediated StorySpace environment, as well as some critiques from a feminist perspective on this project. The latter will also be converted to a few critical points on the new media theories used.
This project therefore operates on two levels: it is both an experiment in itself, inviting different readers to engage differentially with the web, as well as an assessment of the usefulness and applicability of some current theories and practices of new media and feminism.
The main feminist terminologies are partially taken from the book A Concise Glossary of Feminist Theory, and modified to suit the StorySpace and internet environments. Enjoy (I did)!

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