ABSTRACT
This chapter examines writing center scholarship’s history with feminist theory. I note the lack of research claiming a feminist theory lens in past writing center scholarship and argue for a feminist theory that recovers the feminine, nurturing characteristics often identified with writing center work. I develop a working definition of feminist theory as value-laden and reliant on lived experiences and practices and argue for the importance of feminist theory in the current political and educational climate. By recovering the feminine for feminist theory, writing center scholars can resist neoliberal values penetrating our institutions, providing a transformative space for students. The chapter provides examples of methodologies and research that reflect the values inherent in feminist theory and methods and that bring abstract feminist theory into research.
