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Feminist Theory (feminist + theory)
Selected AbstractsCaring in Context: Four Feminist Theories on Gender and EducationCURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 1 2003Audrey Thompson The purpose of this article is to put the problematic claims made for educational caring in context by indicating how three competing feminist analyses have addressed the question of gender inequity. Neither from the liberal perspective offered by socialization theory nor from the leftist perspectives offered by structural and deconstructive analyses can caring be considered an adequate solution to educational inequity. Indeed, because "caring" as theorized in gender difference theory turns upon specifically Western, white, middle,class, and heterosexual assumptions about gender and femininity, it risks contributing to patterns of educational exclusion. To understand both the promise and the limitations of gender difference theory, it is necessary to evaluate that theory in the context of other influential educational feminist theories. [source] Feminist Theory, Embodiment, and the Docile Agent: Some Reflections on the Egyptian Islamic RevivalCULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2001Saba Mahmood First page of article [source] Undoing Theory: The "Transgender Question" and the Epistemic Violence of Anglo-American Feminist TheoryHYPATIA, Issue 3 2009VIVIANE NAMASTE For nearly twenty years, Anglo-American feminist theory has posed its own epistemological questions by looking at the lives and bodies of transsexuals and transvestites. This paper examines the impact of such scholarship on improving the everyday lives of the people central to such feminist argumentation. Drawing on indigenous scholarship and activisms, I conclude with a consideration of some central principles necessary to engage in feminist research and theory,to involve marginal people in the production of knowledge and to transform the knowledge-production process itself. [source] Toward a Phenomenology of Sex-Right: Reviving Radical Feminist Theory of Compulsory HeterosexualityHYPATIA, Issue 1 2007KATHY MIRIAMArticle first published online: 9 JAN 200 In this essay, Miriam argues for a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach to the radical feminist theory of sex-right and compulsory heterosexuality. Against critics of radical feminism, she argues that when understood from a phenomenological' hermeneutic perspective, such theory does not foreclose female sexual agency. On the contrary, men's right of sexual access to women and girls is part of our background understanding of heteronormativity, and thus integral to the lived experience of female sexual agency. [source] The Way Out West: Development and the Rhetoric of Mobility in Postmodern Feminist TheoryHYPATIA, Issue 3 2000ELIZABETH A. PRITCHARDArticle first published online: 9 JAN 200 In this essay, I trace a rhetorical affinity between feminist postmodern theory and an Enlightenment narrative of development. This affinity consists in the valorization of mobility and the repudiation of locatedness. Although feminists deploy this rhetoric in order to accommodate differences and to accustom readers to the instability that results from such accommodation, I show how this rhetoric works to justify Western colonial development and to efface women's very different experiences of mobility in the early twenty-first century. [source] Old English Literature and Feminist Theory: A State of the FieldLITERATURE COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 6 2008Mary Dockray-Miller Feminist and gender scholars working in Anglo-Saxon studies in the past ten years have been asking new and important questions of a variety of Old English and Anglo-Latin texts. Most crucially, this interdisciplinary new work redefines the historiographical paradigms of Anglo-Saxon cultural production and reception so that women must now be regularly included in discussions of Anglo-Saxon cultural agency. This paradigm shift can and should inform broader cultural understandings of the history of gender relations, despite current communication problems among the varied subfields of medieval studies and gender studies. Furthermore, the pedagogy of both medievalists and faculty specializing in later periods must be informed by this shift as well. [source] Gender, Nations and States in a Global EraNATIONS AND NATIONALISM, Issue 4 2000Sylvia Walby Nations and national projects are gendered in different ways. Feminist theory has raised important questions about the conceptualisation of ,difference'. This article develops the conceptualisation of the different ways in which nations and national projects are gendered, arguing for a mid-level conceptualisation of gender relations. It argues against, on the one hand, the excessive fragmentation of gender, and on the other, too simple dichotomies of mordless unequal gender relations. This draws on a theorisation of gender relations which connects the different dimensions into specific kinds of gender regimes, either public or domestic gender regimes. This enables us to conceptualise different national projects as having a more or less public or domestic gender project. The conflicts between different national projects and with other polities, such as states, are then conflicts between differently gendered projects. The usefulness of this mid-level conceptualisation is demonstrated through examples of the competing relations between the UK, Ireland, the EU and the Catholic Church in a global era. [source] Caring in Context: Four Feminist Theories on Gender and EducationCURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 1 2003Audrey Thompson The purpose of this article is to put the problematic claims made for educational caring in context by indicating how three competing feminist analyses have addressed the question of gender inequity. Neither from the liberal perspective offered by socialization theory nor from the leftist perspectives offered by structural and deconstructive analyses can caring be considered an adequate solution to educational inequity. Indeed, because "caring" as theorized in gender difference theory turns upon specifically Western, white, middle,class, and heterosexual assumptions about gender and femininity, it risks contributing to patterns of educational exclusion. To understand both the promise and the limitations of gender difference theory, it is necessary to evaluate that theory in the context of other influential educational feminist theories. [source] Is Empathy Gendered and, If So, Why?ETHOS, Issue 4 2004An Approach from Feminist Psychological Anthropology Difference feminists have argued that women have special virtues. One such virtue would seem to be empathy, which has three main components: imaginative projection, awareness of the other's emotions, and concern. Empathy is closely related to identification. Psychological research and the author's own study of women's and men's talk about poverty and welfare use in the United States demonstrate women's greater empathic concern. However, some cross-cultural research shows greater sex differences in empathy in the United States than elsewhere. This combination of findings (women tend to demonstrate greater empathic concern, but this typical difference varies cross-culturally) requires a complex biocultural explanation, drawing on cognitive, psychoanalytic, and feminist theories. Explanation, and not just description, is a prerequisite for change. [source] Corpus Meum: Disintegrating Bodies and the Ideal of IntegrityHYPATIA, Issue 3 2005DIANE PERPICH This essay shows that Jean-Luc Nancy's reconceptualization of corporeality in such texts as L'Intrus and Corpus can be an important ally to feminist theories of body. I introduce Nancy's ontology and argue that his rejection of the unified, integrated body of humanist discourses in favor of dis-integrated bodies constituted by multiple alterities and his consequent reinterpretation of body as a "being-exscribed" begin the task of thinking bodies beyond traditional dualisms and their ahistorical and rationalist frameworks. I then address three potential criticisms of Nancy's work and suggest that though there may be reasons to move cautiously in adopting the framework he provides, his work harbors resources directly beneficial to critiques of prevailing forms of gender normativity. Quel étrange moi! ,Jean-Luc Nancy, Corpus [source] Continuing the dialogue: postcolonial feminist scholarship and Bourdieu , discourses of culture and points of connectionNURSING INQUIRY, Issue 3 2007JM Anderson Continuing the dialogue: postcolonial feminist scholarship and Bourdieu , discourses of culture and points of connection Postcolonial feminist theories provide the analytic tools to address issues of structural inequities in groups that historically have been socially and economically disadvantaged. In this paper we question what value might be added to postcolonial feminist theories on culture by drawing on Bourdieu. Are there points of connection? Like postcolonial feminists, he puts forward a position that aims to unmask oppressive structures. We argue that, while there are points of connection, there are also epistemologic and methodologic differences between postcolonial feminist perspectives and Bourdieu's work. Nonetheless, engagement with different theoretical perspectives carries the promise of new insights , new ways of ,seeing' and ,understanding' that might enhance a praxis-oriented theoretical perspective in healthcare delivery. [source] THE FEMINIZATION OF TEACHING AND THE PRACTICE OF TEACHING: THREAT OR OPPORTUNITY?EDUCATIONAL THEORY, Issue 4 2006Morwenna Griffiths She outlines a feminist theory of practice that draws critically on theories of embodiment, diversity, and structures of power to show that any practice is properly seen as fluid, leaky, and viscous. Examining different and competing understandings of "feminization", referring either to the numbers of women in teaching or to a culture associated with women , Griffith argues that concerns about increasing number of women teachers are misplaced. She complicates the cultural question, observing that masculine practices have a hegemonic form while feminized practices have developed in resistance to these, and she ultimately argues that hegemonic masculinity, not feminization, is the problem because it drives out diversity. Griffiths concludes that the leaky, viscous practices of teaching would benefit from the increased diversity and decreased social stratification feminization brings to the profession. [source] "It wasn't ,let's get pregnant and go do it':" Decision Making in Lesbian Couples Planning Motherhood via Donor InseminationFAMILY RELATIONS, Issue 4 2004Jennifer M. Chabot The process that lesbian couples experienced in using donor insemination (DI) to become parents was examined in this study through interviews of 10 lesbians. Using a decision-making framework embedded in feminist theory, results identified the major decisions involved that conceptualized the transition to parenthood and describe how these decisions were experienced. [source] Exploring the Gaps between Meanings and Practices of Gender Equity in a Sport OrganizationGENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 3 2007Larena Hoeber This article analyses the explanations organizational members used to make sense of the meanings and practices of gender equity. Studying gender equity as an organizational value provided a way of understanding how gender inequity is perpetuated and embedded in the culture of an organization. This study was informed by post-structuralist feminist theory as it provided a lens for understanding and critiquing the local meanings and production of gendered knowledge, and encouraged discussion of transforming meanings and practices. This study was situated in a Canadian university athletic department in which gender equity was an espoused organizational value, but gender inequities were evident. Data were collected from in-depth interviews with administrators, coaches and athletes, observations of practices and competitions, and the analysis of relevant documents. These data were coded and categorized using Atlas.ti. Respondents' explanations for the gap between what was espoused and what was enacted centred on two dominant, but contradictory, themes: a denial of gender inequities and a rationalization of gender inequities. These themes suggested respondents often understood inequities as expected, natural, or normal. [source] Undoing Theory: The "Transgender Question" and the Epistemic Violence of Anglo-American Feminist TheoryHYPATIA, Issue 3 2009VIVIANE NAMASTE For nearly twenty years, Anglo-American feminist theory has posed its own epistemological questions by looking at the lives and bodies of transsexuals and transvestites. This paper examines the impact of such scholarship on improving the everyday lives of the people central to such feminist argumentation. Drawing on indigenous scholarship and activisms, I conclude with a consideration of some central principles necessary to engage in feminist research and theory,to involve marginal people in the production of knowledge and to transform the knowledge-production process itself. [source] Toward a Phenomenology of Sex-Right: Reviving Radical Feminist Theory of Compulsory HeterosexualityHYPATIA, Issue 1 2007KATHY MIRIAMArticle first published online: 9 JAN 200 In this essay, Miriam argues for a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach to the radical feminist theory of sex-right and compulsory heterosexuality. Against critics of radical feminism, she argues that when understood from a phenomenological' hermeneutic perspective, such theory does not foreclose female sexual agency. On the contrary, men's right of sexual access to women and girls is part of our background understanding of heteronormativity, and thus integral to the lived experience of female sexual agency. [source] The International Relations of Middle-earth: Learning from The Lord of the RingsINTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 4 2008Abigail E. Ruane This article demonstrates how by using J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings (LOTR) as a text in the classroom instructors can relay the international relations (IR) "Great Debates" and feminist "waves" to students through the framework of "where you stand depends on where you sit." It overviews how J.R.R. Tolkien's acclaimed trilogy is relevant to learning about IR and then presents a number of "cuts" into using LOTR to inform IR teaching of both problem solving and critical theory. It begins by parsing the three "Great Debates" of IR theory and three "waves" of feminist theory in terms of different worldviews by relating them to characters from the trilogy. Next, the paper suggests that a critical evaluation of this analysis conveys that concerns, goals, and understandings of problems and insecurities are influenced (although not determined) by context, such as gender, race, class, sexuality, and postcolonial position. It concludes by suggesting that further use of popular culture and the humanities can help IR teaching both illustrate and critically reflect on IR scholarship. [source] Because People Matter: Studying Global Political EconomyINTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 4 2001Ronnie D. Lipschutz The 1990s were hard on our traditional theories of International Relations and International Political Economy, and the Millennium has brought the End of Meta-Narrative as We Know It. In this article, I discuss and dissect three of the past decade's meta-narratives, and show how they were no more than failed efforts to shore up the decomposing corpus of mainstream theories. In their stead, I offer a preliminary description of a contextual and contingent approach to thinking about and analyzing global political economy. I place people at the center of my framework, and use the tools of historical materialism, feminist theory, and agency-structure analysis to generate an understanding of the relationship between what I call the "social individual" and global politics and political economy. [source] Making sex: law's narratives of sex, gender and identityLEGAL STUDIES, Issue 1 2003Laura Grenfell From the 1970 decision of Corbett, onwards, legal narratives established two modes of categorising complex social identi5 in relation to sex and gender. These narratives responded to complex identity questions by attempting to simplify identity by limiting it to biological factors or anatomical and psychological factors. I demonstrate that the law's struggle to ,make' sex is reflected to a certain extent by feminism's trajectory, in that feminisms have also attempted to grapple with these complex questions, and often opted for the same simple solutions to the problem of understanding gender, sex and identity. The aim of this paper is to show that some strands of feminist theory, specifically post-structuralist feminist theory, can produce a more progressive and constructive approach to determining sex in their ability to illuminate the complexities of identity. In particular, my aim is to urge those courts that ,make' sex to consider these complexities and the implications that flow from placing transgender people into rigid arid narrow categories. [source] Writing Eighteenth-Century Women's Literary History, 1986 to 2006LITERATURE COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 6 2007Betty A. Schellenberg Under the influence of feminist theory and criticism, the late 1980s saw a flowering of literary histories of eighteenth-century women writers. This work was very influential in assuming the existence of a distinct women's literary history conditioned by an increasingly rigid gender ideology of the time, in focusing on the novel genre, and in creating appreciation for the more recognizably feminist writers of the early and latter portions of the ,long eighteenth century'. Subsequent work questioned the dependence of these histories on the ,separate spheres' model of gender, on a limited group of genres associated with women and with the literary, and on notions of feminism congenial to the late-twentieth-century critic. More broadly, feminist generalizations of women's experience were challenged by the rise of class, race and sexuality studies, while the very enterprise of historiography was placed under suspicion by postmodernist criticism of master narratives and of claims to objective interpretation of evidence. In response, studies of eighteenth-century women's writing began to attend to a broader range of genres and spheres of action within the larger field of print culture, as well as to produce more nuanced studies of individual writers and the conditions within which they wrote. However, general literary studies remained dependent on the models of the 1980s, while writers seemed reluctant to write new literary histories. Only recently are there indications of a return to large-scale women's literary histories. This return revises the pioneering work of the 1980s by attending to new, detailed studies of numerous individual writers, expanding generic coverage, incorporating electronic resources, experimenting with inclusive studies of male and female writers, and reconsidering questions of literary value. [source] Hope Deferred: Theological Reflections on Reproductive Loss (Infertility, Stillbirth, Miscarriage)MODERN THEOLOGY, Issue 2 2001L. Serene Jones This essay examines the human experience of reproductive loss and grief surrounding infertility, miscarriage and stillbirth, in particular why such painful silences persist where one might least expect it; namely, in feminist communities and in churches. By bringing into conversation feminist theory and systematic theology on this topic, the author effectively crosses (and cross-fertilizes) the boundaries of two important sets of discourse with the hope of better understanding why painful silences persist concerning reproductive loss and what theological , in particular Trinitarian , resources are available to help the church think about the issue (both those who suffer this loss and the broader community who seeks to understand it). [source] A feminist perspective on stroke rehabilitation: the relevance of de Beauvoir's theoryNURSING PHILOSOPHY, Issue 2 2002Kari Kvigne RN Abstract The dominant view of women has changed radically during the last century. These changes have had an important impact on the way of life of women in general and, undoubtedly, on women as patients. So far, gender differences have received little attention when developing healthcare services. Stroke hits a great number of elderly women. Wyller et al. found that women seemed to be harder hit by stroke than men; they achieved lower scores in tests of motor, cognitive and ADL functions, both in the acute phase and 1 year after stroke. It is reasonable to expect that differences in outcome among male and female sufferers may in part be explained by the fact that rehabilitation services are designed primarily to meet the needs of men. de Beauvoir's feminist theory maintains that one's body is fundamental in creating the person, which is a lifelong process. Traditionally, the female body has been exposed to alienation and oppression through life. This has led women to develop a life in immanence. This we feel can be of significance in connection with rehabilitation after a stroke, particularly for elderly women. In this article we will discuss how de Beauvoir's theory can throw new light on the experiences and rehabilitation of elderly women and point to ways of improving the process of rehabilitation. [source] Equity at the Intersection: Public Administration and the Study of GenderPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 3 2009Domonic A. Bearfield While gender has emerged as an important research subject, the development of a feminist theory has been slow. This paper calls for a commitment to the development of a feminist theory of public administration. As part of this development, the author argues that the field also must embrace research focused on the intersection of multiple identity categories such as race and class. [source] The myth of the best argument: power, deliberation and reason1THE BRITISH JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2001Luigi Pellizzoni ABSTRACT Power in communication takes two main forms. As ,external' power, it consists in the ability to acknowledge or disregard a speaker or a discourse. As ,internal' power, it is the ability of an argument to eliminate other arguments by demonstrating its superiority. A positive or negative value may be ascribed to these forms of power. Four ideal-typical positions are discussed , strategy, technocracy, constructionism, and deliberation. Public deliberation has three virtues , civic virtue, governance virtue and cognitive virtue. Deliberation lowers the propensity to, and the benefit of, strategic behaviour. It also increases knowledge, enhancing the quality of decisions. For Habermas, the unity of reason is expressed in the possibility of agreement on the most convincing argument. However, sometimes conflicts are deeplying, principles and factual descriptions are profoundly different, and uncertainty is radical. The best argument cannot be found. There is no universal reason. The question is whether non-strategic agreement may spring from the incommensurability of languages. In search of an answer, Rawls's concept of overlapping consensus, the feminist theory of the public sphere, and the idea of deliberation as co-operation are discussed. The argument developed is that the approach to deliberative democracy may be renewed by rethinking its motivational and cognitive elements. Public deliberation is grounded on a pre-political level of co-operation. Intractable controversies may be faced at the level of practices, looking for local, contextual answers. [source] Public Health, Private Parts: A Feminist Public-Health Approach to Trans IssuesHYPATIA, Issue 3 2009KRISTA SCOTT-DIXON This paper identifies and examines the possible contributions that emerging fields of study, particularly feminist public health, can make to enhancing and expanding trans/feminist theory and practice. A feminist public-health approach that is rooted in a tradition of political economy, social justice and equity studies, and an anti-oppression orientation, provides one of the most comprehensive "toolboxes" of perspectives, theoretical frameworks, methods, practices, processes, and strategies for trans-oriented scholars and activists. [source] | ||||||||||||||||