Nordic Feminism Reconsidered: Activism, Scholarly Endeavours and Women’s Research Networks at the Nordic Summer University 1971–1990

Abstract

In our paper presentation, we explore the Nordic Summer University (NSU), an independent and migratory scholarly organisation, as a platform for interaction and cooperation for the new women’s movements and an arena for the development of women’s research in the Nordic region. In several accounts, NSU is described as a key context for the development of Nordic women’s and feminist research and frequently appears in memoirs by pioneers in the field, but it has never been the direct object of scholarly focus. In recent years, there has been a scholarly debate about the historical narratives concerning the history of academic feminism in the Nordic region, where both the connection to the new women’s movements in the 1970s and the notion of the ‘Nordic’ have been contested. This article intervenes in these discussions by exploring the ‘women’s circles’ within NSU as they appear in various sources such as historiographical accounts, reports memoirs and archives and thereby, thereby defending a hands-on archival approach. We argue that focusing on an alternative international institution for knowledge production such as NSU offers valuable insights into how feminism as a social movement and a scholarly project - politics and academic endeavours - have been negotiated.