On Being Uncomfortable

Abstract

Since the last issue of Feminist Legal Studies, we editorial board members have had lots of conversations about comfort, displacement and alienation. As we developed the programme for #FLaK2016 we thought about it as a kind of pulling ourselves out of our comfort zone (Fletcher et al. in Fem Leg Stud 24:1-6, 2016), if academic events and journals ever have a comfort zone. Drawing on a mix of feminist live performance methods and a science and technology studies-type curiosity for objects of experimentation, we tried out a kitchen table method of hosting a live research conversation with activists, artists and academics over two days (Fletcher in Fem Leg Stud 23:241-252, 2015). But we had not fully anticipated the way that the Brexit result would contribute to and complicate discomfort. A fuller analysis of FLaK awaits a later moment, but here we pick out this one aspect of our gathering-feelings of discomfort -as they animate the contributions to this issue in interesting ways.

A Wench’s Guide to Surviving a ‘Global’ Pandemic Crisis: Feminist Publishing in a Time of COVID-19

“…Some editors are reporting a noticeable downturn in submissions by women authors and, in some cases, an upturn in submissions by men (Fazackerley 2020 ), which would be consistent with Conaghan’s thesis. The current paradigm, however, provides us with another opportunity to look at the mode of production operating in journal publishing, one that we at FLS are implicated in and have long been critical of (Fletcher et al 2016 , 2017 ). Our insistence that academic publishing, and feminist publishing in particular, be seen as a political endeavour drives a lot of our editorial policies including an emphasis on the importance of Global South scholarship, employing decolonising techniques in our editorial practice, our involvement in the recent Global South writing workshops (Naqvi et al 2019 ) and our continuing support for early career researchers (ECRs), particularly those from marginalised or minoritised communities.…”

Wench Tactics? Openings in Conditions of Closure

“…See also Mair (2017) citing Jivraj (2016, 83) over anxieties in law about children and the proper communities to which they belong. 3 For one account of how we have carried forward some of the FLaK experience in illuminating our engagement with journal content, see Fletcher et al (2016a). One way in which this editorial carries forward some of FLaK's questions about how best to enact methods which capture the multidimensionality of feminist legal studies, is with its table of contents.…”

Editorial: With thanks to Ruth Fletcher

“…So much of what Ruth has done with the journal over the last five years has been to think out loud about how feminist practices can be most effectively mobilised within the academy and the uncomfortable spaces, including those of academic publishing, it often forces us into (Fletcher et al 2016b). To this end, Ruth has been at the forefront of insisting on the further provision of open access options in FLS.…”