Bücher der Reihe Schriftenreihe der Internationalen Frauenuniversitat "Technik und Kultur"

The Body and Representation: The Centre for Feminist Studies Meets the ifu The present work is the result of the cooperation between the Centre for Femi­ nist Studies (ZFS) at the University of Bremen and the International Women's University Hanover 2000 (ifu). For the project area Body (deans: Prof. Patricia McFadden and Prof. Barbara Duden), in which roughly one hundred fifty par­ ticipants from all over the world took part/ the Centre for Feminist Studies de­ veloped and organized a two-week study phase, The Body and Representation: Feminist Research and Theoretical Perspectives, which was carried out on the campus of the University of Bremen from 30 July to 11 August 2000 (concept and chair: Prof. Sigrid Schade; collaboration I coordination: Dr. Insa Hartel). It formed the third and fourth weeks of a program that lasted thirteen weeks in all. This publication is neither a documentation of this study phase nor an "ideal" concept for such a curriculum. Neither of these possible variants for such a publication was feasible, and neither would have made much sense, for a number of reasons.

In the last three decades, women's intervention in the social and natural sci­ ences, in medicine and technology has introduced new paradigms. We have to admit that it takes time and energy to influence these fields in a feministic way. Women do not only work for the growth of knowledge, but also for the trans­ formation of knowledge systems. This book is about using knowledge for action in an interdisciplinary effort focussing on information as a social resource. Women's approach to the information age is different, as becomes visible in this book: Women's scholarly explorations include not only developing technol­ ogy, but also improving communication and networking, as well as supporting democratic processes by taking advantage of the tremendous technological op­ tions. I am convinced that this approach is vital for living the information soci­ ety, and that it will also make fields relating to information technology more at­ tractive to women. This book is the outcome of the Project Area INFORMATION of the Interna­ tional Women's University (ifo) held at the University of Hamburg in the sum­ mer 2000. As the Deputy Minister for Science and Research of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg I was responsible for promoting this study program. The international gathering of 150 participants was a most exciting event. The experience of ifo has enriched me as a scientist, as a feminist and as a politician.

"International Women's University 2000"--Cover.

This volume introduces a gender dimension and provides new insights in the issues like nationalism and racism, identity building, transnational networking, citizenship and democracy.

11 tions involving women and men and their relations to one another. Gender is an important organising principle of social relations as it structures every aspect of human interaction on a personal or household level, in the local community, and in international relations. Who will be socialised to become vulnerable or strong? Who will have property and political power? Who will be excluded from privileges? Who is likely to become mobile or denied the possibility to move? Our concern in this collection of articles was not to merely make women in migration visible, but to show that patterns, causes, experiences and social im­ pacts of migration are gendered. This is still not self-evident. As long as the male bias persists - the pervasive assumption that the inter­ national migrant is a young, economically motivated male, ignoring the reality of the composition of migration streams world-wide and influencing policy making - the compensatory approach which concentrates on women as the pri­ mary subject of studies will be necessary.

The contributions collected in this volume were produced on the occasion of the International Women's University (ifu), which took place in Hanover in the summer of 2000. They belong to the preparation papers and lesson materials written for the project-area "Work. " This area was one of the six faculties, along with "Information," "Body," "Migration," "City," and "Water," which formed the program of the ifu. On a world wide horizon, each project-area chose re­ gional centers appropriate for its special topic. Tensions between global and - cal developments and their economic, socio-cultural and political effects on gen der relationships were thematized in almost all faculties. Special attention was paid to women's new opportunities as well as worsening life conditions in a chan ging world. The cosmopolitan orientation of the Ifu corresponds on a sci­ entific level to internationality and interdisciplinarity as requirements for each design of the curriculum. I will come back to what this means for our project­ area. It was our goal to explore the connections between globalization, work and gender. This was a difficult undertaking. As "globalization" is a process that oc­ curs in transnational contexts and under varying local constellations, its multiple modes of operation can only become visible by studying a certain number of countries. An approach based on contrasting methods, however, demands a weIl considered plan- how many and what kind of regions should be exemplarily compared.