Dr. Sara DiazWGST 202: Gender, Difference, and PowerGonzaga University

Feminist Theorizing

Epistemology

• Theories are a way of generating knowledge• Accepted methods for creating knowledge• Values of dominant culture• Limit questions asked -> limit knowledge

generated

• In Western Culture, “objectivity” is a key feature of knowledge systems or epistemologies

Objectivity• The “View from

Nowhere”

• Decontextualized, universal knowledge

• Disinterested knowledge producer

• The “God-Trick”

Positivism

•An epistemology based on the assumption that all TRUTH can be positively established, with certainty through empirical methods.

Relativism

• Knowledge is “relative” to social/historical perspective.• Never certain, or absolute• All perspectives are equally valid

Examples of relativism from Chapter 2 intro?

Some Specific Theories

Standpoint Theory• Different social and

historical situations give rise to different group experiences / theories • Physical Location• Interests• Discourses• Institutions

Subjugated Knowledge

•Knowledge that comes from non-dominant standpoints•PHC - Black feminist thought•Knowledge vs Epistemology• Alternative ways of knowing• Story-telling• Spirituality• Non-western metaphors

Criticisms of Standpoint Theory

•Can be depoliticizing•How can we organize collectively?•Assumes that we can truly “know”

our own experiences•Relativism

Feminist Theories Today

• Emphasize fluidity and multiplicity of identity• Interconnectedness of social problems• Blending of various theoretical

perspectives• Transnational, postmodern, and queer

theories

Response Question

•According to Patricia Hill Collins, how does your social standpoint shape how you know what you know?

Patricia Hill Collins

1. What does Collins say is the alternate way between positivism and relativism?

2. How does Collins’ articulation of black feminist thought challenge both positivism and relativism?

3. Why might Collins argue that dominant groups have “a vested interest in suppressing the knowledge produced by subordinate groups?”