Page 40 - Šolsko polje, XXXI, 2020, 5-6: Teaching Feminism, ed. Valerija Vendramin
P. 40
šolsko polje, letnik xxxi, številka 5–6
and dominant matrices in knowledge, even though it causes anxiety and
distress, and often anger and resistance, is the demand of feminist epis-
temology. In other words, not only is feminism epistemologically struc-
tured out of resistance, and is thus in many ways a counter-discursive po-
sition, but in resignifying the referential fields of different backgrounds
and historical experiences, it directly affects the change in power relations
between the sexes in the social realm and theory, questioning authorities
and transforming knowledge, creating and acting on critical knowledge.
This brings into question not only the status of “agency” in theory but also
works to (re)articulate theoretical concepts both for the self-authorisation
and radicality of theory.
What a pleasure it was to listen to philosophy in Women’s Studies! I knew
there was a different way of understanding the misogyny of philosophers
like Hegel and Kant as well as the absence of women in philosophy. But
I was missing the “key” to exposing this epistemic blindness. And myself
in the theoretical chaos. Beauvoir – Wittig – Butler, how many inspiring
thoughts, connections and important arguments! I felt it free from ideas
(excerpt from an interview with a student generation, 2017/2018).
Therefore, when I think of feminist epistemology, I always think of
both the extension and conversion of its meaning that in a parallel way sig-
nifies critical ways of knowledge, namely decolonising the self (Lugones,
2010) in terms of being free and being a part of the mutual decolonising
of knowledge. In this regard, feminism(s) function(s) as many feminist
theorists from Simone de Beauvoir to Audre Lorde, from Trinh Minh-
ha to Maria Lugones, Nadežda Čačinovič and Chizuko Ueno imagined,
as a kind of disobedience itself by opening up the long-running argument
of theoretical “universality”, by freeing language up from homogenous or
gender-neutral interpretations or dismantling the objective grounds of
truth, by enabling women to create their own spaces, epistemologically
new ones, by subverting male-dominated discursive codes in order to save
or create meanings of their own selves.
Feminist Classroom and Critical Pedagogy
How can we talk about feminism? How can we teach feminism and with
which methodological and pedagogical tools? These questions are always
in the midst of discussions among feminist scholars since the politics of
knowledge is inseparable from the “politics of location” (Rich, 1986) as a
signifying practice that grounds feminist theory in accountability for the
situatedness of knowledge production.
38
and dominant matrices in knowledge, even though it causes anxiety and
distress, and often anger and resistance, is the demand of feminist epis-
temology. In other words, not only is feminism epistemologically struc-
tured out of resistance, and is thus in many ways a counter-discursive po-
sition, but in resignifying the referential fields of different backgrounds
and historical experiences, it directly affects the change in power relations
between the sexes in the social realm and theory, questioning authorities
and transforming knowledge, creating and acting on critical knowledge.
This brings into question not only the status of “agency” in theory but also
works to (re)articulate theoretical concepts both for the self-authorisation
and radicality of theory.
What a pleasure it was to listen to philosophy in Women’s Studies! I knew
there was a different way of understanding the misogyny of philosophers
like Hegel and Kant as well as the absence of women in philosophy. But
I was missing the “key” to exposing this epistemic blindness. And myself
in the theoretical chaos. Beauvoir – Wittig – Butler, how many inspiring
thoughts, connections and important arguments! I felt it free from ideas
(excerpt from an interview with a student generation, 2017/2018).
Therefore, when I think of feminist epistemology, I always think of
both the extension and conversion of its meaning that in a parallel way sig-
nifies critical ways of knowledge, namely decolonising the self (Lugones,
2010) in terms of being free and being a part of the mutual decolonising
of knowledge. In this regard, feminism(s) function(s) as many feminist
theorists from Simone de Beauvoir to Audre Lorde, from Trinh Minh-
ha to Maria Lugones, Nadežda Čačinovič and Chizuko Ueno imagined,
as a kind of disobedience itself by opening up the long-running argument
of theoretical “universality”, by freeing language up from homogenous or
gender-neutral interpretations or dismantling the objective grounds of
truth, by enabling women to create their own spaces, epistemologically
new ones, by subverting male-dominated discursive codes in order to save
or create meanings of their own selves.
Feminist Classroom and Critical Pedagogy
How can we talk about feminism? How can we teach feminism and with
which methodological and pedagogical tools? These questions are always
in the midst of discussions among feminist scholars since the politics of
knowledge is inseparable from the “politics of location” (Rich, 1986) as a
signifying practice that grounds feminist theory in accountability for the
situatedness of knowledge production.
38
