Faculty members at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock have started a group to explore feminist research and collaboration opportunities around campus. 

The Feminist Research Collective is open to all faculty members interested in intersectional feminist research, advocacy, and pedagogy at UA Little Rock.

Kris McAbee, associate professor of English and one of the group’s founders, said faculty members have talked about starting such a group for years. She was inspired by a similar group her friends started at the University of Texas at Dallas.

“They found really productive engagement with each other,” McAbee said. “One rhetorical scholar and one artist have collaborated on projects and now have a joint installation at a museum in Dallas. It’s a relationship they wouldn’t have formed had they not come together through this group.”

This semester, the group has held two meetings exploring research on masculinity and child sexual abuse in abolitionist narratives by Dr. Laura Barrio Villar, associate professor of English, and the work on anti-racism, love, and politics by Dr. Jana McAuliffe, assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Studies.

“It’s been so heartwarming and encouraging to meet and work with colleagues who have interests that I didn’t know were so similar to mine,” McAbee said. “I think it can be easy to get isolated in your department. This is a way for us to collaborate across departments and fields and share our research with each other. It’s nice to have a group to keep us committed to keeping up our scholarship.”

For more information, contact Kris McAbee, kxmcabee@ualr.edu, or Catherine Crisp, clcrisp@ualr.edu.