''Women's Studies Quarterly'', often referred to as ''WSQ'', is a biannual

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 review ...

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 d ...

women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

that was established in 1972 and published by

The Feminist Press The Feminist Press (officially The Feminist Press at CUNY) is an American independent nonprofit literary publisher that promotes freedom of expression and social justice. It publishes writing by people who share an activist spirit and a belief in ...

. The Feminist Press was founded by

Florence Howe Florence Rosenfeld Howe (March 17, 1929 – September 12, 2020) was an American author, publisher, literary scholar, and historian who is considered to have been a leader of the contemporary feminist movement. Early life Born in Brooklyn, New ...

in 1970. Before changing its name to Women’s Studies Quarterly in 1981, the publication was titled Women’s Studies Newsletter. The name change indicated a shift in the publication’s purpose and content. Along with scholarly articles, the journal publishes fiction and

creative nonfiction Creative nonfiction (also known as literary nonfiction or narrative nonfiction or literary journalism or verfabula) is a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Creative nonfiction contra ...

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

, and the

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...

. Currently, WSQ’s bi-annual publications are based on themes. "Alerts and Provocations" informs readers about immediate political crises affecting women or regarding gender. "Classics Revisited" rereads a major text of women's and feminist studies, with a response by the original author.

Book review __NOTOC__ A book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is merely described (summary review) or analyzed based on content, style, and merit. A book review may be a primary source, opinion piece, summary review or scholarly revie ...

s and

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

s inform readers about recent work in the field. Other recent themes for WSQ issues have included precarious work (Fall/Winter 2017), mother (Fall Winter 2009), market (Fall/Winter 2010), and looking across the lens (Spring/Summer 2002). The Feminist Press, which is now housed at the (

CUNY Graduate Center The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and post-graduate university in New York City. Serving as the principal doctorate-granting institution of the Ci ...

) in

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...

, is still the sole publisher for each issue of WSQ issue. The

editors-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

are Jillian Báez (

College of Staten Island The College of Staten Island (CSI) is a public university in Staten Island, New York. It is one of the 11 four-year senior colleges within the City University of New York system. Programs in the liberal arts and sciences and professional studi ...

, CUNY) and Natalie Havlin ( LaGuardia Community College, CUNY). The poetry editor is Patricia Smith (

, CUNY). The

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

and

prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the f ...

editor is Rosalie Morales Kearns. Previous editors-in-chief are Cynthia Chris (

), Matt Brim (

), Amy Herzog (

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

), Joe Rollins (

Victoria Pitts-Taylor Victoria Pitts-Taylor ( née Pitts) is Professor of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Wesleyan University, Connecticut, and also Professor of Science in Society and Sociology there. She was formerly a professor of sociology at Queens Coll ...

(

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

), and Talia Schaffer (

Cindi Katz Cindi Katz (born 1954 in New York City), a geographer, is Professor in Environmental Psychology, Earth and Environmental Sciences, American Studies, and Women's Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center. Her work concerns social reproduction and the prod ...

(

) and

Nancy K. Miller Nancy K. Miller (born 21 February 1941) is an American literary scholar, feminist theorist and memoirist. Currently a Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the CUNY Graduate Center, Miller is the author of several boo ...

(CUNY Graduate Center). In 2007, WSQ obtained the 2007 Phoenix Award for Significant Editorial Achievement of

The Council of Editors of Learned Journals The Council of Editors of Learned Journals emerged from a series of informal gatherings of editors at the Modern Language Association of America (MLA). The gatherings were concerned with the same issues that are the subject matter of the organizatio ...

History

The journal was established in 1972 as the ''Women's Studies Newsletter'', obtaining its current name in 1981. The first newsletter was published in 1972 and was published one time per season. On occasion there were less than four publications per year because editions condensed two seasons into one publication. As a

newsletter A newsletter is a printed or electronic report containing news concerning the activities of a business or an organization that is sent to its members, customers, employees or other subscribers. Newsletters generally contain one main topic of int ...

, the topics were focused on

women’s studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on Feminism, feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining Social constructionism, social and cultural constructs of gender; ...

curriculum in all grade levels, children’s books, and receiving funding for women’s studies programs and faculty. The newsletter created the core network that transformed into the

National Women's Studies Association The National Women's Studies Association (NWSA) is an organization founded in 1977, made up of scholars and practitioners in the field of women's studies also known as women's and gender studies, feminist studies, and related names in the 21st c ...

(NWSA) in 1977. The first issue of Women’s Studies Newsletter released in Fall 1972 begins the Front Matter with a section describing The Clearinghouse on Women’s Studies. The Clearinghouse on Women’s Studies began in 1969 in

’s office at

Goucher College Goucher College ( ') is a private liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland. It was chartered in 1885 by a conference in Baltimore led by namesake John F. Goucher and local leaders of the Methodist Episcopal Church.https://archive.org/details/h ...

. The academic field of Women’s Studies in the United States was in its early stages, and the Clearhousing on Women’s Studies was a way to connect the growing community of women’s studies scholars. In 1970, Howe asked the

Modern Language Association The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "st ...

’s executive council to enable the Clearinghouse on Women’s Studies to issue the first “Guide to Women’s Studies Courses and Programs.” Three “Guides,” or lists of women’s studies courses, were issued by the Clearinghouse between October 1971 and the summer of 1973. The Women’s Studies Newsletter was a project of Clearinghouse, which was “an education project of the Feminist Press.” The Front Matter of the 1972 newsletter dates its origins to an east coast women’s studies conference in Pittsburgh where a group decided to organize a women’s studies newsletter. The newsletter was aimed to “be a forum throughout the country for the women’s studies movement.” Individuals reading and engaging with the newsletter were interested in how to get funding for women’s studies programs and how to create jobs for people to teach these types of classes. Topics included news updates from Clearinghouse and other ongoing initiatives, academic reviews and articles, case studies from certain schools or universities, reading lists, and other topics pertinent to the expanding discipline of women’s studies throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s. As the third issue went to press, the newsletter has upwards of 500 subscribers. Subscription costs ranged between one and two dollars per issue. However, once the newsletter entered its fifth year of publication (1976), the subscription list had stagnated at just under 2,000, which did not equate to the compiled list of women’s studies teachers in higher education that had grown to over 5,500. This disparity caused the newsletter to increase subscription costs moving forward. In the Fall 1976 issue, there was a proposal for a founding convention of

placed next to the edition’s

editorial An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK) is an article written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper, magazine, or any other written document, often unsigned. Australian and major United States newspapers, suc ...

. NWSA became a co-publisher of the Women’s Studies Newsletter throughout 1982, at which point it returned to solely being produced by the Feminist Press.

References

External links

*
Women's Studies Newsletter
1972 - 1981 (

open access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Women's Studies Quarterly Biannual journals English-language journals Feminist journals Publications established in 1972 Sociology journals Women's studies journals