Feminist 'Talk of Self' and the Disciplinary Imaginary of International Relations: A Case of Creative Boundary-Work.

The paper explores the ways in which feminist scholarship is creatively unsettling the disciplinary imaginary of International Relations, by disturbing the very notion of the legitimate units in the organisation of knowledge and by challenging the centre-periphery organisation of disciplinary topography. This 'silent revolution' in IR is observed by looking at a series of position-takings and dialogues that occurred during the past two decades in IR academic publications, regarding the 'feminist question' in IR. In the space of these dialogues, feminists in IR have talked about their disciplinary self and also about the way their niche of scholarship fits into the discipline of IR more broadly. Beyond discussing feminist forms of creativity, the paper aims to contribute to the understanding of the production of novelty in intellectual fields and to explore the overlooked connection between programmatic texts (or talk of self) and disciplinary change. Making sense of disciplinary change is no longer a case of recording trends, but a case of observing local modes of subversive action, performed by reflexive artisans, in a unique intellectual locality. Within this conception of change, feminist 'talk of self' is recuperated as a complicated case of resistance to domestication. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]