The Messiness of Feminist Hope

The APSA conference will be held September 11 – 14, 2025, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 

How can we revive and sustain feminist hope in the face of the anti-feminist backlash? Critical theorists have interrogated the nature of hope in our disenchanted times, examining how hope is enmeshed with senses of disappointment and loss. Yet less attention has been paid to feminist hope. This panel fills this gap and explores the uncertain, tragic, and messy character of feminist hope in conditions of patriarchal violence. It approaches feminist hope as an embodied practice rooted in solidarity and on-the-ground action and must reckon with uncertainty, loss, disappointment, and despair as its unavoidable other side. The contributors address many interrelated questions: What are the sites of feminist hope in the current anti-feminist moment? How is hope linked to the complicated feelings of uncertainty, ambivalence, rage, helplessness, and despair? How can we productively engage with loss and disappointment and re-energize the struggles for a feminist future given the resilience of patriarchy? The contributors explore the messiness of feminist hope in various historical contexts and forms of feminist resistance, from prominent feminist movements of the past to recent forms of struggle, contestation, and refusal.