Jill Drouillard is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies at the Mississippi University for Women. Her research interests include feminist philosophy, ethics/bioethics, 19th-20th century philosophy, and social philosophy in the United States and France. Her work has been published in the International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, Journal of Speculative Philosophy, Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy, Continental Philosophy, and Culture & Dialogue. However, Drouillard’s latest project is closer to home. She recently launched Medusa: An Undergraduate Journal of Feminist Philosophy, which seeks to encourage cross-disciplinary feminist scholarship and provide undergraduate students with the opportunity to experience the process of academic publication.
What is Medusa?
Medusa: An Undergraduate Journal of Feminist Philosophy is an interdisciplinary journal seeking feminist scholarship across a variety of disciplines and approaches. We welcome submissions from all philosophical traditions and encourage papers that bridge feminist thought with other critical, cultural, gender, literary, queer, race, disability, social, and political theories. Medusa is a peer-reviewed journal that provides undergraduate students with an experience of academic publishing; it also provides an outlet for their voices and showcases how they relate to the scholarship they are being taught. Reviewers are graduate students who specialize in the field of feminist philosophy. The journal is housed at the Mississippi University for Women (“The W”), the first state-supported college for women. In keeping with the university’s historic mission to promote inclusive learning, we encourage submissions that foster this pursuit.
Medusa, so named after the figure in Greek mythology, is symbolic of a female gaze and empowerment, one that may revert the male gaze and have us question the historic relation between the monstrous and the feminine. Medusa is the first journal to highlight undergraduate work in feminist philosophy and we hope to publish articles from a variety of institutions at the intersection of different feminist approaches.
What is the significance of the journal being interdisciplinary?
Feminist philosophy as a subdiscipline is inherently interdisciplinary, and it’s important to really stress the value of situated knowledges and diverse voices. I’ve had conversations with my colleagues at philoSOPHIA: a society for continental feminism regarding boundary policing and the downplaying of feminist philosophy as not “real philosophy.” In fact, we’ve had students submit to undergraduate journals and be rejected on the grounds that the work wasn’t “philosophical enough.” Most of us who do work in feminist philosophy have a personal relationship with the texts we’re reading, and Medusa wants to see undergraduate students think critically about the scholarship they are reading and apply it to their lives and/or social and political events happening in their world(s).
Can you tell us more about the articles that are included in the journal’s first issue?
The first issue of Medusa features the work of eight undergraduate students from four institutions (Bryn Mawr, Lenoir-Rhyne University, Mississippi University for Women, and Sam Houston State University). While a few students majored or minored in philosophy, they stem from other disciplines as well such as art, history, mathematics, engineering, English, and psychology. This is very exciting, because while we encourage students who wish to pursue graduate studies in philosophy or women’s, gender, & sexuality studies to publish, we also want those students who are just dropping in on an Intro class or other courses such as Feminist Philosophy to submit their work. We basically want to know how undergraduate students are engaging with feminist scholarship. These students have a lot to teach us, but there hasn’t really been an outlet for their voices. The first issue includes Layla Johanna’s “After Becoming a Transwoman: Conocimientos of Transgender Women and Paternalism,” Priscilla Zhao’s “(Re)conceiving François Poulain de la Barre’s Feminism and Social Philosophy,” Izzy Poros’ “Foucault’s Deployment of Sexuality and the Power of Trans Discourse,” Demmi Ramos’ “Expanding Moral Considerations and Obligations to Nature,” Aveline Kreiling’s “A Culturally Sensitive Understanding of a Queer Environmental Ethic,” and Mariah Hopkins’ “Virtuous Women of Martyrs Mirror: Stories of Steadfast Faith.” As a Nancy Yates Fellow, Mariah also served as Assistant Editor to the journal.
The first issue also featured a special section devoted to an Undergraduate Panel in Feminist Philosophy that took place during the 2024 Mississippi Philosophical Association. As Vice President of the MPA, I hosted the conference in partnership with philoSOPHIA to promote feminist philosophies of the future during the second day of the conference. Haylei Wilson presented her work “The Other, Woman” and Emily Perkins presented “Commonplace Sexism in Society.” For author spotlights and future sneak peeks at what’s being published, visit our Instagram page and follow us here.
The Mississippi University for Women was the first state-supported college for women. Can you tell us more about this history and how the university continues this legacy after having gone co-ed?
Though Mississippi University for Women is the first state-supported college for women, we have been co-ed since 1982. Nevertheless, the university is committed to its mission of fostering excellence and leadership skills in women. For this reason, the W has recently created a Women’s College taught by a diverse faculty to offer interdisciplinary courses in Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies. The significance of the W offering a Women’s College at a public liberal arts institution boils down to affordability and accessibility. Traditionally, Women’s Colleges that offer support and bolster confidence in women are private institutions that many of our first-generation college students cannot afford. The W recognizes the value of a liberal arts education that focuses on interdisciplinarity, and its Women’s College is aware of the way that gender shapes our experiences, both personally and professionally, and so can offer that education to students who could not access it otherwise.
What do you hope will be gained from a publication of this type?
Medusa not only gives undergraduate students experience in publishing, but it also allows educators to read the narratives of undergraduate students who engage with feminist scholarship. Feminist philosophy allows students to speak as an “I” and it encourages students to think critically about how work from the philosophical canon as well as how other texts can be useful for thinking about issues related to their own life. Like all scholarship, our relationship to it changes as we encounter new historical shifts; our students are living moments in ways that we may not be attuned to, and listening to those voices and situated knowledges is what feminist philosophy is, in part, about. Medusa accepts papers between 2000-8000 words; shorter format papers allow students who are not necessarily working on research projects within philosophy or women’s, gender, and sexuality studies to submit. For more information regarding submission guidelines, check out our website here.
Graduate students who work within the field of feminist philosophy or who have had significant coursework in this area serve as our reviewers, so we also provide graduate students with an experience of refereeing. We are so thankful for the reviewers who helped with this inaugural issue: Yingshihan Zhu, Steve Muir, Yvonne Tam, Payden Alder, Bridget Berdit, and Sarah Lee. The Medusa logo was created by an art student at the W Aven Norwood. We hope that art students will continue to provide cover art for each issue.
Since the publication of the first issue on July 1st, 2024, I’ve received emails from professors at other institutions inquiring about the next deadline. The deadline is currently set for April 30th, 2025, but papers can be submitted and sent out for review before then. As you plan your syllabi for the fall and spring semesters, please encourage students to submit to Medusa! Or, if you are a graduate student who would like to serve as a reviewer, please reach out at jmdrouillard[at]muw[dot]edu. Contact the same address for any other questions or suggestions you may have to make this a better experience for undergraduate students! And thank you for getting the word out about Medusa!
Jill Drouillard
Jill Drouillard is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies at the Mississippi University for Women. Her research interests include feminist philosophy, ethics/ bioethics, 19th-20th century philosophy, and social philosophy in the United States and France. She is the author of Feminist Heidegger: Sex, Gender, and the Politics of Birth that is forthcoming with SUNY Press and has published in journals such as the International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, Journal of Speculative Philosophy, Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy, Continental Philosophy, and Culture & Dialogue. She is interested in object-based learning and as a first-generation college student supports those from underrepresented backgrounds. She is the founding editor of Medusa: An Undergraduate Journal of Feminist Philosophy.
Maryellen Stohlman-Vanderveen is the APA Blog's Diversity and Inclusion Editor and Research Editor. She graduated from the London School of Economics with an MSc in Philosophy and Public Policy in 2023 and currently works in strategic communications. Her philosophical interests include conceptual engineering, normative ethics, philosophy of technology, and how to live a good life.
