Narayan, U. (2003). ‘The Project of Feminist Epistemology: Perspectives from a Non Western
Feminist’, In Carole McCann and Seung kyung Kim (eds), Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global
Perspectives, 2nd edn. New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 308-317.
"Feminist epistemology is that our location in the world as women makes it possible for us to perceive and understand different aspects of both the world and human activities in ways that challenge the male bias of existing perspectives." p.213
"Feminist epistemology suggests that integrating women's contribution into the domain of science and knowledge will not constitute a mere adding of details; it will not merely widen the canvas but result in a shift of perspective enabling us to see a very different picture." p.213
Feminist epistemology has studied how scientific theories and practices have been coloured by the fact it was historically only a field men worked in. It also aims at integrating values and emotions into cognitive activities because they are valid and unavoidable. Dualisms have been broken down to expose the inherent sexism linked to them pointing at one as masculine and therefore better, while the other is feminine and therefore worse.
"As an Indian feminist currently living in the United Sates, I often find myself torn between the desire to communicate with honesty the miseries and oppressions that I think my own culture confers on its women and the fear that this communication is going to reinforce, however unconsciously, western prejudices about the "superiority" of western culture." p.216
"Positivism in epistemology flourished at the same time as liberalism in western political theory." p.217
"feminists should be cautious about assuming that they necessarily have much in common with a framework simply because it is nonpositivist." p.218
"no point of view is "neutral" because no one exists unembedded in the world." p.218
"one cannot but be angry at those who minimize, ignore, or dismiss the pain and conflict that racism and sexism inflict on their victims. On the other hand, living in a state of siege also necessarily makes us suspicious of expressions of concern and support from those who do not live these oppressions." p.219
"Sympathetic individuals who are not members of an oppressed group should keep in mind the possibility of this sort of failure regarding their understanding of issues relating to an oppression they do not share." p.220
On so-called "epistemic advantage" - that the oppressed operates within two worlds, theirs and the dominant groups, resulting in double vision: "access to two different and incompatible contexts is not a guarantee that a critical stance on the part of an individual will result." p.222
Inhabiting two contexts may lead to "a sense of totally lacking roots or any space where one is at home in a relaxed manner." p.222
"The thesis that oppression may bestow an epistemic advantage should not tempt us in the direction of idealizing or romanticizing oppression and blind us to its real material and psychic deprivations." p.223
"Feminist epistemology is that our location in the world as women makes it possible for us to perceive and understand different aspects of both the world and human activities in ways that challenge the male bias of existing perspectives." p.213
"Feminist epistemology suggests that integrating women's contribution into the domain of science and knowledge will not constitute a mere adding of details; it will not merely widen the canvas but result in a shift of perspective enabling us to see a very different picture." p.213
Feminist epistemology has studied how scientific theories and practices have been coloured by the fact it was historically only a field men worked in. It also aims at integrating values and emotions into cognitive activities because they are valid and unavoidable. Dualisms have been broken down to expose the inherent sexism linked to them pointing at one as masculine and therefore better, while the other is feminine and therefore worse.
"As an Indian feminist currently living in the United Sates, I often find myself torn between the desire to communicate with honesty the miseries and oppressions that I think my own culture confers on its women and the fear that this communication is going to reinforce, however unconsciously, western prejudices about the "superiority" of western culture." p.216
"Positivism in epistemology flourished at the same time as liberalism in western political theory." p.217
"feminists should be cautious about assuming that they necessarily have much in common with a framework simply because it is nonpositivist." p.218
"no point of view is "neutral" because no one exists unembedded in the world." p.218
"one cannot but be angry at those who minimize, ignore, or dismiss the pain and conflict that racism and sexism inflict on their victims. On the other hand, living in a state of siege also necessarily makes us suspicious of expressions of concern and support from those who do not live these oppressions." p.219
"Sympathetic individuals who are not members of an oppressed group should keep in mind the possibility of this sort of failure regarding their understanding of issues relating to an oppression they do not share." p.220
On so-called "epistemic advantage" - that the oppressed operates within two worlds, theirs and the dominant groups, resulting in double vision: "access to two different and incompatible contexts is not a guarantee that a critical stance on the part of an individual will result." p.222
Inhabiting two contexts may lead to "a sense of totally lacking roots or any space where one is at home in a relaxed manner." p.222
"The thesis that oppression may bestow an epistemic advantage should not tempt us in the direction of idealizing or romanticizing oppression and blind us to its real material and psychic deprivations." p.223
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