Thirteenth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

Departing from an online interactive Gender Café on the topic of Knowledge Management, jointly hosted by a UN agency and the Society of Gender Professionals, this study provides gender practitioners and others with practical examples of how to ”gender” Knowledge Management in international development. Through analysing the travel of feminist ideas into the field of Knowledge Management with inspiration from Barbara Czarniawska’s and Bernard Joerge’s (1996) theory of the travel of ideas, the work explores the spaces, limits, and future possibilities for the inclusion of feminist perspectives. The ideas and practical examples of how to do so provided in this research originated during the café, by the participants and panellists. The online Gender Café temporarily created a space for feminist perspectives. The data demonstrates how feminist perspectives were translated into issues of inclusion, the body, listening methodologies, practicing reflection, and the importance to one’s work of scrutinizing underlying values. However, for the feminist perspective to be given continuous space and material sustainability developing into an acknowledged part of Knowledge Management, further actions are needed. The research also reflects on future assemblies of gender practitioners, gender scholars and activists, recognizing the struggles often faced by them. Finally, it discusses strategies of how a collective organizing of ‘outside-inside’ gender practitioners might push the internal work of implementing feminist perspectives forward.