Description
While pragmatism as a philosophy and intellectual movement has been gaining inroads in the international ethics and international political theory (IPT) scholarship, feminist pragmatism is not yet as widely regarded. The paper considers potential contributions of feminist pragmatism, particularly Jane Addams, to IPT, women’s international thought, and wider IR theory. Addams was a prominent social theorist and activist in early 20th century Chicago, yet her theoretical contribution to IPT are large overlooked. In the paper I firstly explore key features of the feminist pragmatism. I then move to consider Jane Addams’s social theory and practices in Hull House, a settlement house she set up in Chicago. The paper considers Hull House as a social and experimental space that enabled trialling out various responses to social issues. It also casts Hull House as the international and highly pluralised space. Lastly, the paper reviews what we can learn from Hull House as a space for social ethics and democratic connections. Here I consider Hull House as an ideal-as-a-model rather than an ideal to be replicated, that is, an exemplar that can inform global governance structures and organisations, I consider what current IR researchers can learn from Addams’ activism and work.
