Introduction - Understanding local/global identities: Towards a materialist discursive feminism

This editorial introduces 16 articles originating at the 1999 Women's Studi es Network (UK) conference. It begins by telling the story of the long proc ess by which we published the articles, considering some of the implication s of this process for equality of access to the global production of knowle dge in women's/gender studies. It then proposes an analytical framework for understanding this collection in terms of the development of a materialist discursive feminism. Finally, it explains how the articles have been organ ised, and outlines each contribution, paying attention to the way the artic les are both located within and constitutive of the framework. (C) 2001 Els evier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.