Afrocentric Feminist Epistemology PATRICIA HILL COLLINS EPISTEMOLOGY IS THE STUDY of the philosophical problems in concepts of knowledge and truth. The techniques I use in this volume to rearticulate a Black women’s standpoint and to further Black feminist thought may appear to violate some of the basic
Nov 09, 2016 · This exclusion from the mainstream epistemology has led to what Collins calls ‘subjugated knowledge’ – expressions of experience through other forms such as music and dance. For Collins, as for many feminist standpoint theorists , ‘all social thought reflects the interest and standpoint of its creator’ and political criteria influence ...
This saying depicts two types of knowing - knowledge and wisdom - and taps the first dimension of an Afrocentric feminist epistemology. Living life as Black women requires wisdom because knowledge about the dynamics of race, gender, and class oppression has been essential to Black women’s survival.
Oct 22, 2012 · Patricia Hill Collins describes epistemology as “The standards used to assess knowledge or why we believe what we believe to be true” also “the ways in which power relations shape who is believed and why” (270). In addition to Collins investigation of epistemology, the distinction that she makes between epistemology and Black feminist challenges the…
Feminist epistemology and philosophy of science studies the ways in which gender does and ought to influence our conceptions of knowledge, knowers, and practices of inquiry and justification. It identifies how dominant conceptions and practices of knowledge attribution, acquisition, and justification disadvantage women and other subordinated ...
While early feminist science criticism by working scientists may have presupposed a naive version of empiricism, feminist empiricists today stress the pervasiveness of situated knowledge, the interplay of facts and values, the absence of transcendent standpoints, and the plurality of theories.
People often represent objects in relation to their emotions, attitudes and interests, which differ from how others represent these objects. A thief represents a lock as a frustrating obstacle while its owner represents the lock as a comforting source of security. (4) Personal knowledge of others .
It is thus a branch of social epistemology. Individuals’ social locations consist of their ascribed social identities (gender, race, sexual orientation, caste, class, kinship status, trans/cis etc.) and social relations, roles, and role-given interests, which are affected by these identities.
Gender as a mode of social situation. In feminist theory, “gender” refers to systems of meanings, social identities, roles, norms, and associated behaviors, traits and virtues, ascribed or prescribed to individuals on the basis of their real or imagined sexual characteristics (Haslanger 2000).
Gender norms structure the social spaces to which people with different gender identities are admitted, as well as the presentation of self to others. Inquirers with different gender identities therefore have access to different information about others.
Standpoint Epistemology in General. Standpoint theories claim to represent the world from an epistemically advantaged socially situated perspective . A complete standpoint theory must specify (i) the social location of the advantaged perspective, (ii) its scope: the subject matters over which it claims advantage, (iii) the aspect of the social location that generates epistemic advantage: for example, social role, or subjective identity; (iv) the ground of its advantage: what justifies its claim to superiority; (v) the type of epistemic superiority it claims: for example, greater accuracy, or greater ability to represent fundamental truths; (vi) the other perspectives relative to which it claims advantage, and (vii) modes of access to that perspective: is occupying the social location necessary or sufficient for getting access to the perspective? Many limited claims to epistemic advantage on behalf of particular perspectives are uncontroversial. Auto mechanics are in a better position than auto consumers to know what is wrong with their cars. Practical experience in fulfilling the mechanic’s role grounds mechanics’ epistemic advantage, which claims superior reliability.
Collins, P. H. (1991). Towards an afrocentric feminist epistemology. In: P. H. Collins (ed.). Black feminist thought. London, United Kingdom: Routledge.
The Eurocentric masculinist knowledge validation process: the institutions, paradigms and other elements of the knowledge validation process controlled by elite white men.
AfAs use wisdom to assess knowledge, and an understanding of their oppression through race, gender and probably class. "Knowledge without wisdom is adequate for the powerful but wisdom is essential to the survival of the subordinate".
Very interesting. I've heard talk of intersectionality on Twitter, and not really understood it (or taken much notice of it) until now. It seems clear to me that experiences and understandings will vary.
Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins uses an intersectional approach to describe the oppression faced by black women in the U.S. The book may facilitate meaningful dialogue around topics of sexism and racism that are apparent in the United States. Collins explores ways in which classism, sexism, and racism are coextensive. Throughout the book, the author narrates how women of color face challenges when it comes to choosing between their identity as African-Americans and their identity as women. She claims that when an African-American woman chooses solidarity with her gender, her exclusive perspective as a black woman is lost. Collins further argues that individual and agency perspectives are oppressed and lost through the use of influential images. According to her, women of color are depicted in one of the three ways: ‘mammy’, ‘hoochie’ and ‘matriarch’. Among these images, sexuality is predetermined as being over-the-top or non-existent. Women of color are often accused of being the source of their own problems. Collins argues that such descriptions never signify the lived realities of women of color in the U.S. Nevertheless, the experience of her work and women of color enable who read the book to perceive lived realities as nuanced, complex, and unique.
The fourth and final one is the interpersonal domain that regulates consciousness and associations of people. Perhaps, one may perceive the matrix of domination as a continuum where intersections of oppression meet. However, along the continuum lie the greatly varied experience of women of color in the U.S.