The W launches the first undergraduate journal of feminist philosophy
“Medusa: An Undergraduate Journal of Feminist Philosophy,” housed at Mississippi University for Women, has published its inaugural issue. The online journal is the nation’s first undergraduate journal dedicated to feminist philosophy.
Created by Jill Drouillard, assistant professor of Philosophy and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Medusa is a peer-reviewed journal that provides undergraduate students with an experience of academic publishing.
“I’m very excited to provide a platform for undergraduate students writing within the field of feminist philosophy. Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, of which feminist philosophy is a part, is a burgeoning field as witnessed by the increase of scholarly work being published in this domain,” said Drouillard.
Medusa is an interdisciplinary journal seeking feminist scholarship across a variety of disciplines and approaches. It welcomes submissions from all philosophical traditions and encourages papers that bridge feminist thought with other critical, cultural, gender, literary, queer, race, disability, social and political theories. The W is the first state-supported college for women. In keeping with the university’s historic mission to promote inclusive learning, the journal encourages submissions that foster this pursuit.
Medusa will be published annually with an April submission deadline. Since the initial call for papers, “I’ve received queries from professors across several institutions who have students wanting to submit papers. A space for undergraduate students working within this subdiscipline of philosophy has been lacking,” says Drouillard.
Reviewers are graduate students who specialize in the field of feminist philosophy.
Mariah Hopkins, Interdisciplinary Studies major with a focus in English and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, served as assistant editor as part of her Nancy Yates Fellowship, a program that provides high-impact summer opportunities for W students.
Mariah also published her article “Virtuous Women of Martyrs Mirror: Stories of Steadfast Faith” in the first issue. She stated, “Working on Medusa has been a one-of-a-kind experience, and I’m thrilled for all of the brilliant work that’s been put into the journal to be shared with other scholars. I hope that in future years Medusa continues to grow and receive submissions from more students across the country.”
The Medusa logo was designed by W Art major Aven Norwood. W Philosophy minor Izzy Poros published his text “Foucault’s Deployment of Sexuality and The Power of Trans Discourse.” Papers by W students Haylei Wilson (“The Other, Woman”) and Emily Perkins, Philosophy minor with a Certificate in Applied & Professional Ethics (“Commonplace Sexism in Society”) also appear in the inaugural issue under a special section dedicated to an Undergraduate Panel of Feminist Philosophy that took place during the 2024 Mississippi Philosophical Association Conference that was hosted by The W and organized by its vice president professor Drouillard.
As a national journal, the inaugural issue features articles by the following scholars at other institutions: Aveline Kreiling (Bryn Mawr) “A Culturally Sensitive Understanding of a Queer Environmental Ethic”; Demmi Ramos (Lenoir-Rhyne University) “Expanding Moral Considerations and Obligations to Nature”; Layla Johanna (Sam Houston State University) “After Becoming a Transwoman: Conocimientos of Transgender Women and Paternalism”; and Priscilla Zhao (Bryn Mawr) “(Re)conceiving François Poulain de la Barre’s Feminism and Social Philosophy.”
For more information regarding submission guidelines and to view the current issue, please visit the Medusa website at https://www.muw.edu/medusa/ and follow on Instagram: @medusa_journal_muw.