The Chinese Translation of the term "radical feminism"

       Yenlin Ku

         In the early 20^th century the English word “radical” was translated to ”激進” in Chinese and the term has been widely used ever since. As a result, “radical feminism” was translated to ”激進女性主義” in the 1970s. However, when it came to the 1990s, Fu Da-wei, a male history professor in Taiwan, argued that the translation should be switched to ”基進女性主義” , because the root of the English word “radical” is “root”. ”基” (meaning “basic” and ”fundamental”) in Chinese implies that change should come from the bottom. Many academics quickly replaced ”激進” with ”基進”. However, fundamentalism connotes a sense of strict adherence to the literal interpretation of scripture. In that case, ”基進” is poles apart from the critical and revolutionary nature of ”激進”.

 

      Furthermore, “基進”, a newly coined term, is unfamiliar to the majority of Chinese readers. Some consider it a purely academic usage. On the other hand, “激進” is popular and easy to understand. With its radical(部首) “water”, “激” pictures the splash and turbulence when fast flowing water runs into obstruction. The image of splashing and turbulent water reminds me of the vigorous and passionate struggle of the young feminists in the 1970s. Besides, “激進” also means complete and progressive changes.

從研究「婦女」到女性主義觀點研究：一探婦女研究在台灣的發展脈絡 From Studying "Women" to Feminist Studies-- Women's Studies in Taiwan

 台北女書店2021年11月13日線上研討會 On-line conference by fembooks in Taipei

顧燕翎

   1.    獨立新學門或整合入傳統學門（autonomous vs integrated）

  婦女運動一向有全球化性格，婦女研究則是20世紀中期婦運的產物，嚴格來說，源自美國大學校園，所以探討台灣的婦女研究不能只把眼光放在台灣，需要放在世界的脈絡中來看。

1970年代前後，年輕女性熱情投入婦運，卻發覺傳統學科沒法回答我們的問題，才感到需要開發女人自己的問題意識、理論和研究方法來開發屬於女人的知識。這是婦女研究的起點，也是婦研界的共識。但是差別在於如何達成目標：婦研應當發展成一個獨立的學術領域，有自己的機構、人事和預算；或者女性主義者應當加入固有的學術領域，從事女性主義觀點的研究，在各學科內部從事改造。這兩種立場也是1985年聯合國在Nirobi舉辦的第三屆世界婦女大會的重要論辯之一。

主張發展獨立的學術領域的人認為婦研需要自己的理論、方法論和方法，若加入傳統學術領域，婦女成為一個研究變項，將無法改變既有的理論、方法論和方法，一個常用的比喻是”add women and stir”，好像做蛋糕，多加一個配料，讓口味更豐富一點而已，無法產生深刻的改變，無法生產新的知識。