Canadian Woman Studies Volume 38: Visionary Feminisms I

With this special issue, centred on the theme of Visionary Feminisms, we commemorate Luciana Ricciutelli, long- time Editor-in-Chief extraordinaire of Inanna Publications and Canadian Woman Studies/ les cahiers de la femme. In honour of Lu’s work and legacy, we have gathered contributions here by scholars, artists, and activists young and elder, academic and community-engaged—offering research reports, individual and group reflections, case studies, images, poetry and book reviews that analyse feminist movement-building, mobilization, and social transformation in historical and contemporary movements in Canada and globally.

In the first section, Feminist Movements: Theorizing the Personal and Political, authors challenge us to deepen our sociological imaginations, to see the connections between personal experiences of life under capitalism, and the political urgency to overcome patriarchal, misogynistic, colonial systems and relations that enclose, commodify, and harm all life and the Earth. Articles reflect on global women’s movement histories, apply the radical relationality of Black feminisms, highlight the collective power of Senegalese women’s tontines, advance relational notions of reproductive justice, and offer insights into the past—and future—of rematriation. Contributors call forth a multiplicity of ways to understand and bring about necessary and urgent transformative change.

In the second section, Feminist Activism: Past, Present, Future, articles testify to the enormous unsung and often unrecorded work of diverse feminists in Canada and around the world. Authors decry the war on reproduction in Palestine, and document Yukon
women’s coalitional advocacy for police reforms, the political involvement of Indigenous women in Quebec, the central role of women in the historic Antigonish Movement, women’s prefigurative activism in Nova Scotia’s child care desserts, student-led movement-build-
ing in the field of social work, and feminist performative cultural practices of disability. The throughline here is the power of thinking, planning, and acting not alone nor for individualistic goals, but together, in horizontal relations of cooperation for the well-being of all, accompanying each other to create the world of peace and plenty that we envision and seek. Together, authors gathered in these pages demonstrate the challenges visionary feminists face and the transformative power of what they achieve, build, and call attention to. They offer insights aimed to strengthen mobilizations and movements in the midst of our collapsing necro-political economic system. At the centre is a call to activate our agency, empower our empathy, and gather our collective powers to shape a better world.

Feminist Movements: Theorizing the Personal and Political