Amelia Bowers
Reporter
Mississippi University for Women professor Jill Drouillard has founded “Medusa: An Undergraduate Journal of Feminist Philosophy,” which has made strides as the first undergraduate philosophy journal in the country.
The first edition of “Medusa,” published online on July 1, 2024, features eight publications from authors from various institutions and fields of study.
Medusa logo by Aven Norwood
Drouillard, assistant professor of Philosophy and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, sees “Medusa” as an outlet for undergraduate students to get experience publishing their work. However, her desire to bring awareness to feminist philosophy runs much stronger.
“Over the years I’ve discussed with some of my colleagues what’s been called boundary policing, certain people within philosophy not considering feminist scholarship 'real philosophy,’” Drouillard said. We’ve actually had some of our undergraduate students submit to undergraduate philosophy journals and then their papers be rejected on the grounds that it’s not philosophical enough.”
Drouillard says part of feminist methodology is understanding how each person experiences the world. She sees feminist philosophy as a way to tell how you interact and experience the world. In that way, feminist philosophy and scholarships are unique to each person.
Not all of the submissions are required to come from Philosophy majors, and the nature of feminist philosophy allows for a variety of themes to be explored.
This year’s assistant editor for the journal, Mariah Hopkins, is a senior Interdisciplinary Studies major with a focus in English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, but she has contributed some of her own research to the journal while working to help Drouillard edit submissions.
“There’s a lot of very dynamic research in the journal. This journal encompasses so many fields that are philosophy related but are not just your classical Aristotle, Plato, Karl Marx,” Hopkins said. “There you can talk about gender dynamics you can talk about any kind of philosophical dynamics you need to talk about to get your point across, so long as you tie it in.”
Half of the research was submitted by students not from The W, and many of the authors were not strictly students whose focus was the study of philosophy. To Drouillard, this nationwide, cross-discipline exposure of ideas gives the journal a unique edge and helps to provide a diversity of ideas and topics.
“So, while a few of the students majored or minored in Philosophy, they came from other disciplines such as Art History, Mathematics, Engineering, English, and Psychology,” Drouillard said. “I think the crossover is going to give us diverse voices of how these students are engaging with these issues.”
One contributor, Izzy Poros, is a senior Art Major at The W with a minor in Philosophy, and he was particularly impressed to find the university providing such an opportunity to students like him and encourages other students to submit their own research.
“It was interesting to see people from all different parts of the country actually submitting to a Columbus, Mississippi, journal,” he said. “I never had planned to publish any of my work, but the opportunity came about and it’s like, a really easy, accessible way to publish your work, so I would recommend anybody to do it.”
To Drouillard, the purpose of a journal like “Medusa” is to give undergraduate students an opportunity to publish their works and to help provide women’s researchers and those interested in feminist issues a platform to share their findings.
“The journal isn't just an outlet for students. They surely do get experience with academic publishing, but it’s also for us professors to read the new generation of students how they’re engaging with this feminist literature and how are they relating it to their own lives,” Drouillard said.
To Hopkins, the “Medusa Journal” is a liberating opportunity.
“The field of women's philosophy has been so dry like there is just no research that is being published and undergraduate research in general it’s very hard to get anything out there especially from the female perspective and in a woman’s voice” she says. “To have that opportunity for undergraduates in a field that is often overlooked, I think that's incredible.”
Drouillard plans to publish yearly editions of “Medusa,” and is always on the lookout for new submissions.
Those interested can visit the journal’s website at muw.edu/medusa or follow the Instagram at medusa_journal_muw.