Judith Ann Tickner (born 1937) is an Anglo-American
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
international relations (IR) theorist. Tickner is a distinguished scholar in residence at the School of International Services,
American University
The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...
, Washington DC.
Career
Tickner served as president of the
International Studies Association
The International Studies Association (ISA) is a US-based professional association for scholars and practitioners in the field of International relations, international studies. Founded in 1959, ISA has been headquartered at the University of Con ...
(ISA) from 2006 to 2007. Since 2011, the ISA give out the J. Ann Tickner Award.
After fifteen years as a Professor of International Relations at the
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
, Tickner recently became a distinguished scholar in residence at the School of International Services,
American University
The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...
, Washington DC, On June 4, 1999, Tickner received an
honorary doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...
from the Faculty of Social Sciences at
Uppsala University
Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation.
Initially fou ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
.
Her books include ''Gendering World Politics: Issues and Approaches in the Post-Cold War Era'' (Columbia University Press, 2001), ''Gender in International Relations: Feminist Perspectives on Achieving International Security'' (Columbia University Press, 1992), and ''Self-Reliance Versus Power Politics: American and Indian Experiences in Building Nation-States'' (Columbia University Press, 1987). One of Tickner's most famous journal articles was the piece "You Just Don't Understand" (''
International Studies Quarterly
''International Studies Quarterly'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of international studies and an official journal of the International Studies Association. It was established in 1959 and is published by Oxford University Press. Ox ...
'' (1997) 41, 611-632), which critiqued mainstream international relations theorists for the omission of
gender
Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...
from their theory and practice. Whilst mainstream scholars argued that feminists should develop scientific,
falsifiable theories, Tickner argued against this assertion, claiming that it misunderstood one of the premises of feminist IR. Most feminist IR theory takes a strongly
deconstructivist
Deconstructivism is a postmodern architectural movement which appeared in the 1980s. It gives the impression of the fragmentation of the constructed building, commonly characterised by an absence of obvious harmony, continuity, or symmetry. ...
approach to knowledge, arguing that theories reflect the gendered social positioning of their authors; they therefore questioned
positivist ("scientific") methods for obscuring the gendered politics of knowledge construction. She favors a social, "bottom-up" method of analysis that makes the role of women in IR visible, as opposed to the usual scientific methodologies that are "top-down" and focus on traditionally masculinist subjects, including men, money, and
war
War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
. Feminist approaches to international relations are a phenomenon of the
post–Cold War period. Feminist scholarly research began in the 1980s in various academic disciplines, from literature to
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
to
history
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
.
Tickner was married to
Hayward Alker until his death in 2007.
Published works
* ''Feminism and International Relations: Conversations about the Past, Present and Future'', ed. with Laura Sjoberg (Routledge, 2011).
* ''Gendering World Politics: Issues and Approaches in the Post-Cold War Era'' (Columbia University Press, 2001).
* ''Gender in International Relations: Feminist Perspectives on Achieving International Security'' (Columbia University Press, 1992).
* ''Self-Reliance Versus Power Politics: American and Indian Experiences in Building Nation-States'' (Columbia University Press, 1987).
See also
*
Carol Cohn
*
Critical international relations theory
*
Claire Duncanson
*
Cynthia Enloe
*
Sara Ruddick
Notes
References
''J. Ann Tickner'' short biography on
Watson Institute for International Studies''J. Ann Tickner'', short biography on
Mershon Center for International Security Studies
The Mershon Center for International Security Studies is a research institute at the Ohio State University. The current director is Dorothy Noyes.
History
The Mershon Center was founded in 1952 upon the death of Ralph D. Mershon, an alumnus o ...
External links
Faculty Profile at American University*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tickner, J. Ann
1937 births
Living people
University of Southern California faculty
American international relations scholars
Constructivist international relations scholars
American feminists
American women political scientists
American political scientists
American women academics
21st-century American women
Presidents of the International Studies Association