ABSTRACT
It might seem strange to suggest there is value in exploring absences or silences in nursing scholarship in relation to feminism, but there is much to be learnt from being on the margins within the landscape of nursing theory, research or practice. In suggesting there are silences and absences, I also want to argue these are never total or complete, or indeed fixed; rather, an uneasy and easy presence exists that is sometimes indicative of misunderstanding, but in many other ways reveals an ongoing productive, even passionate dialogue between nursing and feminism that is actively shaping contemporary debates in nursing and in healthcare. Hence, a more interesting question than my original one might be to ask how we trouble or undo the narrative that states that nursing simply does not make use of feminist theory or research, and instead seek out the similarities and continuities in each disci - plines’ relative absences and silences, as well as note important disruptions and discontinuities between and within nursing and feminism. This might reveal the extent of the complex, sometimes controversial, sometimes marginal, but active engagement between feminism and nursing that is seeking to address urgent critical issues in global healthcare.
