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I have been involved in women's studies both at Smith and in the Valley for over 30 years. I taught one of the first courses dealing with gender at the College ("Women and Social Change", 1974-75); have participated in the Women's Studies Committee—now the Committee on the Study of Women and Gender-- since its inception (initially as the Advisory Committee on the Study of Women's Experience); and have served as member and chair of the Five College Women's Studies Committee as well.

My teaching, research and writing have all centered on the nature and structure of political communities, and, in particular, patterns of power and participation within them. My teaching has included courses and seminars in (U.S.) urban politics, political participation, the politics and wealth and poverty, and feminist and democratic theory. My research has focused on the anarchist movement in Spain, and, particularly, the place of the subordination and emancipation of women within the anarchist project; and on women's place in the political arena in the U.S. I have been particularly concerned with the ways minority women are included in, or excluded from, the structures of communal life, the options that leaves to those excluded, and the ways in which those who have been on the margin respond to their marginality. I have come to believe that attention to these issues requires a reconceptualization of both political life and of the categories in which we analyze it.  

The major focus of my work on Spain was the anarchist women's organization, Mujeres Libres. My book, Free Women of Spain: Anarchism and the Struggle for the Emancipation of Women, explores Mujeres Libres' roots in the broader anarchist movement, and examines the unique approach of the movement to issues of political vision and political mobilization. It provided me an opportunity both to explore anarchist perspectives on some critical problems of social change and political strategy, and to address contemporary issues about incorporating diversity into feminist and other political movements.  That book has since been translated into Spanish and Italian, and a French version is in the works. A new edition in English (that includes some new materials first written for the Spanish edition) was released by AK Press in 2005.  

My more recent work has been a further exploration of what I might call "applied feminist theory," and, specifically, constructions of gender and citizenship. I have been examining how feminist theorizing and feminist activism have affected the ways we think about some central political concepts e.g. public and private, autonomy and dependence, participation and democracy and exploring the implications of these changes for public policy and our understandings of what it is to be a citizen.  I am also interested in questions of identity and identity politics: both the continuing power of such claims, and the dangers associated with them, for feminists and in the larger culture.  A book of my essays exploring these and other issues, Resisting Citizenship: Feminist Essays on Politics, Community, and Democracy (Routledge), will be available in October 2009.

Other writing has focused on the interconnections of politics, spirituality, and community, particularly in a Jewish context. I have written a number of articles on politics and spirituality, on women in Judaism, on changing family structures in the Jewish community, and on the place of lesbians/gays/bisexuals and the transgendered within the Jewish community. And, more recently, I have been a contributor to ongoing debates about “gay marriage.”

Finally, I serve as a member of the Northampton Housing Partnership, a city board that advocates for, and educates the community about, affordable housing in Northampton.