''Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society'' is a
peer-reviewed
Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer revie ...
feminist academic journal
An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and ...
. It was established in 1975 by
Jean W. Sacks, Head of the Journals Division, with
Catharine R. Stimpson as its first editor in Chief, and is published quarterly by the
University of Chicago Press
The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including '' The Chicago Manual of Style'' ...
. ''Signs'' publishes essays examining the lives of women, men, and
non-binary people around the globe from both historical and contemporary perspectives, as well as theoretical and critical articles addressing processes of
gender
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures us ...
ing,
sexualization, and
racialization.
History and significance
The founding of ''Signs'' in 1975 was part of the early development of the field of
women's studies, born of the
women's liberation movement of the late 1960s and 1970s. The journal had two founding purposes, as stated in the inaugural editorial: (1) "to publish the new scholarship about women"
in the U.S. and around the globe, and (2) "to be
interdisciplinary
Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...
".
The goal was for readers of the journal to "grasp a sense of the totality of women's lives and the realities of which they have been a part."
The meaning behind the name ''Signs'' is that signs "represent"
and "point":
the original editors wanted the journal to "represent the originality and rigor"
of women's studies and to "point"
to new directions for feminist scholarship.
Former editor-in-chief Ruth-Ellen Boetcher Joeres said in an article in the ''
Yale Journal of Criticism'' that ''Signs'', from its inception, was meant to be "something different, even insurgent... an agent for change,"
because it emerged from the "grassroots" feminist movement. Joeres explored the "paradox"
of how a journal can be both an "agent for change"
and regarded as "respectable in the academy",
and concluded with the hope that ''Signs'' could retain its activist roots and transform the academy.
In the effort to avoid the tendency of the academy to "codify"
and limit scholarship, ''Signs'' rotates institutional homes roughly every five years. It is currently based at
Northeastern University
Northeastern University (NU) is a private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in Charlotte, North C ...
, with
Suzanna Danuta Walters, Director of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Professor of Sociology, serving as editor-in-chief. In her inaugural editorial, Walters laid out five "core concerns"
for ''Signs'': (1) for the field of women's studies to "substantively reckon"
with
gender and sexuality studies and
queer studies; (2) to focus on "racial and ethnic difference";
(3) to re-emphasize "inter- or transdisciplinarity";
(4) to not lose sight of "the big questions about gender and sexuality"
by getting too narrow in scope; and (5) to expand the journal's "digital presence".
The history of ''Signs'' is explored extensively in Kelly Coogan-Gehr's 2011 book ''The Geopolitics of the Cold War and Narratives of Inclusion: Excavating a Feminist Archive''.
Coogan-Gehr uses ''Signs'' as a case study to complicate what she calls the "stock narrative of feminist field formation".
She argues that dominant histories of the development of
academic feminism, in focusing solely on the women's movement and other radical movements of the 1960s, fail to take into account the role of "changes the Cold War produced in higher education."
In the book, she calls ''Signs'' a "premier academic feminist journal".
Feminist Public Intellectuals Project (FPIP)
In 2015, ''Signs'' launched the Feminist Public Intellectuals Project, which seeks to engage feminist theorizing with pressing political and social problems via three open-access, online-first initiatives: Short Takes: Provocations on Public Feminism, Currents: Feminist Key Concepts and Controversies, and Ask a Feminist. Given the fragmentation of feminist activism and the persistent negative freighting of the term "feminist", the Feminist Public Intellectuals Project seeks to reimagine what role a journal can play in provoking activism.
''Short Takes'' features commentaries by feminist activists and public intellectuals on recent books that "have shaped popular conversations about feminist issues," alongside a response by the author. Featured books include
Roxane Gay's ''
Bad Feminist'',
Rebecca Traister's ''All the Single Ladies'', and
Andi Zeisler's ''We Were Feminists Once.''
''Currents'' publishes essays that put forth "a nuanced and edgy take on a key issue circulating in the feminist definitional landscape."
Issues addressed include "identity politics", "trigger warnings", "celebrity feminism", and "affirmative consent".
''Ask a Feminist'' is an interview series that seeks to create "conversation between and among feminist scholars, media activists, and community leaders," to bridge the divide between scholarship and activism. Recent features include "
Angela P. Harris
Angela P. Harris (born 1961) is an American legal scholar at UC Davis School of Law, in the fields of critical race theory, feminist legal scholarship, and criminal law. She held the position of professor of law at UC Berkeley School of Law, ...
on Gender and Gun Violence" and "
Cathy J. Cohen on
Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police brut ...
, Feminism, and Contemporary Activism".
Catharine R. Stimpson Prize
''Signs'' awards the Catharine R. Stimpson Prize for Outstanding Feminist Scholarship, named for the founding editor-in-chief of ''Signs,'' biennially to the best paper from an international competition of "emerging" feminist scholars (meaning "fewer than seven years since receipt of the terminal degree"). The submissions are judged by an international jury of prominent feminist academics. Winners of the award include Czech historian
Anna Hájková. Winners receive a $1,000 honorarium and have their papers published in ''Signs.''
The 2017 co-winners of the Stimpson Prize were Cameron Awkward-Rich, for his essay "Trans, Feminism: ''Or'', Reading like a Depressed Transsexual", and Meghan Healy-Clancy, for her essay "The Family Politics of the Federation of South African Women: A History of Public Motherhood in Women's Antiracist Activism".
Editors-in-chief, emeritae and current
* Catharine R. Stimpson (
Barnard College
Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Col ...
), founding editor-in-chief, 1975-1980
* Barbara C. Gelpi (
Stanford University), 1980-1985
*
Jean Fox O'Barr (
Duke University), 1985-1990
* Ruth-Ellen Boetcher Joeres and Barbara Laslett (
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
), 1990-1995
* Carolyn Allen and Judith A. Howard (
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seat ...
), 1995-2000
*
Sandra Harding
Sandra G. Harding (born 1935) is an American philosopher of feminist and postcolonial theory, epistemology, research methodology, and philosophy of science. She directed the UCLA Center for the Study of Women from 1996 to 2000, and co-edited ...
and Kathryn Norberg (
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...
), 2000-2005
*
Mary Hawkesworth (
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and wa ...
), 2005-2015
*
Suzanna Danuta Walters (
Northeastern University
Northeastern University (NU) is a private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in Charlotte, North C ...
), 2015–present
Notable contributors to ''Signs''
*
Lila Abu-Lughod
*
Sara Ahmed
*
Raewyn Connell
*
Kimberlé Crenshaw
*
Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde (; born Audrey Geraldine Lorde; February 18, 1934 – November 17, 1992) was an American writer, womanist, radical feminist, professor, and civil rights activist. She was a self-described "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet," wh ...
*
Catharine MacKinnon
Catharine Alice MacKinnon (born October 7, 1946) is an American radical feminist legal scholar, activist, and author. She is the Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, where she has been tenured since 1990, ...
*
Chandra Talpade Mohanty
*
Adrienne Rich
*
Joan Wallach Scott
*
Elaine Showalter
*
Rajeswari Sunder Rajan
*
Patricia J. Williams
Patricia J. Williams (born August 28, 1951) is an American legal scholar and a proponent of critical race theory, a school of legal thought that emphasizes race as a fundamental determinant of the American legal system.
Early life
Williams rec ...
*
Iris Marion Young
Abstracting and indexing
The journal is abstracted and indexed in:
According to the ''
Journal Citation Reports
''Journal Citation Reports'' (''JCR'') is an annual publicationby Clarivate Analytics (previously the intellectual property of Thomson Reuters). It has been integrated with the Web of Science and is accessed from the Web of Science-Core Colle ...
'', the journal has a 2017
impact factor
The impact factor (IF) or journal impact factor (JIF) of an academic journal is a scientometric index calculated by Clarivate that reflects the yearly mean number of citations of articles published in the last two years in a given journal, as ...
of 1.078, ranking it 16th out of 42 journals in the category "Women's Studies".
[Pdf.]
/ref>
See also
* Cultural studies
* Feminist theory
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's and men's social roles, experiences, interests, chores, and femi ...
* Queer theory
* Gender studies
Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field ...
* Women's studies
* List of women's studies journals
* ''Feminist Studies'' (journal)
* '' Feminist Review''
* ''Frontiers'' (journal)
References
External links
*
''Signs'' page on the University of Chicago Press website
''Signs'' Twitter
''Signs'' Facebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Signs (journal)
Feminism and society
University of Chicago Press academic journals
Publications established in 1975
English-language journals
Quarterly journals
Women's studies journals
Women's mass media
Gender studies journals
LGBT-related journals