Linda J. Nicholson, Ph.D,
bridges the gap between feminism, social and political philosophy
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Linda J. Nicholson, Ph.D, bridges the gap between feminism, social and political philosophy |
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Pioneer in an emerging discipline
Linda J. Nicholson strives to show that feminism is a political philosophy on par with the big ones By Andy Clendennen People make changes in their lives. Some people opt for a nice car, maybe a trip to more sunny climes for a week, month or more. But Linda J. Nicholson tried something else. She moved to St. Louis.
So after 25 years at the State University of New York-Albany, she applied for the Stiritz distinguished professorship at the University. "When one applies for a job, there's always a bit of a risk," Nicholson said. "Particularly when one already has a job. Then I came out here and saw it was a terrific job, a terrific university, and here I am." Indeed. And those in the know -- and who made the ultimate decision -- say the University made the right choice. "She has an outstanding record of scholarship," said Helen W. Power, Ph.D., former coordinator and now senior lecturer in Women's Studies and co-chair of the committee to fill the Stiritz distinguished professorship. "She has a name that is almost a household word among people in the feminist academic community. She is well-respected for her writing and her editing. "I think that she has taken her job very seriously, and I think everyone has responded to the fact that she is serious about her work and her scholarship." Nicholson first became interested in feminism in the late 1960s, but it wasn't until 1975 that she became fully immersed in feminism as an area of academic research. After earning a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania, Nicholson headed to the University of Michigan to pursue a postgraduate degree in philosophy. That lasted all of three weeks. "They were really not strong in social and political philosophy, which is why after about three weeks I realized that I really didn't want to be there," Nicholson said. So she enrolled at Brandeis University and earned a master's and a doctorate in the history of ideas program. "My graduate work was really focused on social and political philosophy," Nicholson said, "and for a period of time, up until the early 1970s, while I had been becoming more interested in feminism, I didn't put together my personal political interests in feminism with my academic interest in social and political philosophy. "One looks back on it and thinks, 'How could I have not made that connection?' But one has to get into the mind-set of the period when nobody was thinking about these issues. Political philosophy was about Locke, or liberalism or conservatism, and that's how one defined political philosophy."
"At Albany in the mid-1970s, somebody came and asked me if I would teach a course called Feminist Social and Political Thought at SUNY-Albany, and I said 'yes,'" Nicholson recalled. "And in the course of preparing to teach that course, everything clicked. I realized that feminism itself was a political philosophy with complex relationships to other political philosophies. "Actually, the working title of my first book was Feminism as Political Philosophy, because I really wanted to show that actually feminism was a political philosophy. And in some ways, it was a superior political philosophy to the biggies, such as Marxism." The title of the book eventually became Gender and History: The Limits of Social Theory in the Age of the Family. In it, Nicholson argued that in the history of Western political philosophy, there had been a significant problem: Some of the major contributors to that history had not recognized that the relationship between private and public life was a historically changing relationship. They took the existing form of that relationship, the form found in their own societies, and assumed it was natural. Also while at Albany, Nicholson developed and edited the 32-volume series Thinking Gender, which is often credited with shaping the emerging discipline feminism as a political philosophy. In her career, she has written two books and more than 70 articles and reviews. But 25 years in upstate New York was enough, so she made the jump with both feet and landed just west of the Arch. Nearly two years later, she doesn't regret the move one bit. "Academic institutions have their own cultures," she said. "They are like cities or neighborhoods. Washington University has a culture, and it has a good culture.
The respect is reciprocal. "The University community has welcomed Linda," Power said. " She has been sensitive to the University culture and is already making great contributions to it. And she is not only well-accepted and well-liked by the community, but I also think the feeling is mutual." Nicholson is in charge of a rapidly growing and ever-changing program. There is always a large demand for the 37 courses that are offered as part of Women's Studies. Nicholson doesn't anticipate the enrollment rate decreasing in the near future. "People have been saying for years that feminism is a fad and will last maybe another year and be gone, and people are still saying that today," she said. "And they've been saying the same thing about women's studies. They say it was important and interesting and did some useful things, but it wasn't a long-term program. "But all academic disciplines are always changing and going in new directions. With women's studies, we are in a period where issues of social identity have become in some instances more, rather than less, important. Certainly we think about social identity differently than we did 30 years ago. Now we've gone beyond simple understandings as we recognize how categories of social identity intersect with social class, age and culture." She continued, "If anything, as a society, the gender gap hasn't become less important, it's become more important, and that's an interesting question -- why has it become more important? How can the gender gap have gotten more important when people are claiming we are in the post-feminist era? Isn't there something a little contradictory about that? How post-feminist can we be if gender is not a central issue?" Nicholson is working to correct some of society's misconceptions, or to at least educate more and more people about what feminism really means. And some are taking the lesson to heart. "As I finished my dissertation last year, she read and reacted to parts of its argument," said Susan Stiritz, who earned a doctorate at the University. "She attended my defense of my dissertation and has continued to give me advice on research, writing and teaching. I am only one of many she helps in such ways. She has started a symposium on campus this year in which feminist scholars read their works in process. While she has a large and enthusiastic audience for her own work, she has not forgotten how new writers need others to listen and respond if they are to develop their ideas. "I see Linda building on the planning, work and values of Helen Power in ways that are making the expansion of Women's Studies an exciting opportunity for the University." |
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