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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBhandaryLetterforWomenhood1 Department of Philosophy University of Iowa 251 W Iowa Ave Iowa City, Iowa 52242 March 11, 2025 Dear Selection Committee, I am writing to most strongly support Satomi Kawai and collaborators’ “Women: Hood” project in their application to the Iowa City Public Art Matching Fund Program. Let me first describe my qualifications for assessing her project. I am a feminist philosopher, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and in the Department Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Iowa. I also previously served as Chair of the national feminist organization Feminist Ethics and Social Theory (FEAST), and I am currently the Chair of the American Philosophical Association’s Committee on Asian and Asian American Philosophers and Philosophies. I have known Satomi for approximately eight years, during which time I have also greatly appreciated her visual art. I also regularly participate in her remarkably inclusive Zumba classes, and I gave the inaugural keynote lecture for the first edition of “Women: Hood”. I therefore have ample evidence of her leadership ability, capacity to cultivate community, and incisive feminist art. At a time when seemingly everyone wants to weigh in on the meaning of what it is to be a woman, Kawai and collaborators offer a refreshing approach to the question, one that is imbued with creativity and clarity. They are asking a wide range of women about the meaning of being a woman to them personally. The conversational approach to interviews presumes nothing about the value or disvalue of womenhood to the interviewees, nor does it presuppose feminist precepts. Indeed, there proposed project builds on the artists’ proven track record, with two editions already completed. Funding the third edition would bring this project into contact many more people, who would likely find it a source of comfort, discourse, and community. Financially supporting the development of their website will also propel these diverse voices from the into the national discourse, where our voices are needed. This is the case even more strongly because national understandings of what it means to be Iowan are impove rished or overly shaped by narrow understandings of the subjectivities of the people who live in Iowa. Therefore, hearing from Iowans, and, more specifically, from the people of Iowa City, will greater complicate national perceptions of who we are, and for the better. The fact that this project is guided by artists in our community has resulted in a project that is not didactic or programmatic. Instead, its openness means that those who participate learn much about others, and even about ourselves. I can write about this authority, having been interviewed for the first edition. Another innovative aspect of this project is that the artists make work that is responsive to the interviews. In this way, there is the making of a creative community, and a dialogue between art and life. Indeed, the title of the project, “Women: hood”, attests to its emphasis on the plurality of subjects (“women” rather than “woman”), and on our 2 ability to together constitute a kind of community shaped by living in the same place, rather than an identity (“hood”). I hope it is clear why I give this application my strongest support. It is innovative, it is interesting, and it demonstrates the best kind of collaboration within a community, advancing a grass roots approach to the meaning of “women”. “Women: hood” is a much-needed intervention in a contested topic, and it takes a completely different approach to it, one that diffuses the polarized terms of contemporary debates. Please don’t hesitate to call or email me if you have any questions at all. Sincerely, Dr. Asha L. Bhandary Associate Professor Department of Philosophy Affiliated Faculty, Department of Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies 258 English-Philosophy Building Iowa City, Iowa 52242 asha-bhandary@uiowa.edu cell: 860-268-3734