Scholarship@WashULaw

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2010

Publication Title

Tulsa Law Review

Abstract

One of Catharine MacKinnon's germinal works calls attention to the political effects of modifiers. So, I was intrigued by the modifier of the conference panel that sparked this essay, the "engaged" scholar. I was struck by the quite distinct connotations invoked by this modifier. Of course there is the use I believe was envisioned by the plenary organizers as characterizing Professor MacKinnon's stunning body of legal work: engaged as in connected to something, seriously paying attention to consequences, rigorous and sustained involvement with a subject. Yet there are other connotations of engaged that I think are also helpful in understanding the scholar, modified, and hence the import of Professor MacKinnon's work for sex equality and jurisprudence more generally. There is also engaged, as in to have ceased negotiations and begun actual fighting, to have stopped hand-wringing and undertaken serious offensive and defensive measures. Finally, there is the meaning least invoked among scholars, yet the most commonly associated with the modifier: engaged, as the liminal status between single and married. That a public proclamation of connection and intention sustained not by institutionally imposed obligation but by personal commitment. In this sense, it is a connection characterized typically by confidence in past efforts and faith in the future. This short essay offers three snapshots of Catharine MacKinnon's work, exemplifying each of these common connotations of engagement or the scholar modified.

Keywords

Feminist Jurisprudence, Sex Equality, Queer Theory, Intersectionality, Sexual Harassment, Non-White Women

Publication Citation

Adrienne D. Davis, Three Snapshots of Scholarly Engagement: Catharine MacKinnon’s Ethical Entrenchment, Transformative Politics, and Personal Commitment, 46 Tulsa L. Rev. 15 (2010).

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