Postmodern feminism and knowledge production: The African context

Africa Today

Volumn 43, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 223-234

  Okeke, Philomina E ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0030511686     PISSN: 00019887     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (45)

1. In operative terms, "the politics of producing feminist knowledge" refers to the terms of interaction among distinct constituencies. I refer in particular to the hierarchies that create unequal access to the forums in which feminist concerns are tabled for consideration, especially where they command a high currency. This unequal access is reinforced by - among other factors - the structure of white supremacy and Western imperialism and has worked largely to the advantage of white middle-class women scholars.
2. See, for example, Bell Hooks, Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black (Boston: South End Press, 1989); Bell Hooks, Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics (Toronto: Between the Lines, 1990); Marnia Lazreg, The Eloquence of Silence: Algerian Women in Question (New York: Routledge, 1994); Sandra G. Harding, Whose Science, Whose Knowledge? Thinking from Women's Lives (New York: Cornell University Press, 1991); and Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Ann Russo, and Lourdes Torres, eds., Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991).
3. See, for example, Bell Hooks, Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black (Boston: South End Press, 1989); Bell Hooks, Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics (Toronto: Between the Lines, 1990); Marnia Lazreg, The Eloquence of Silence: Algerian Women in Question (New York: Routledge, 1994); Sandra G. Harding, Whose Science, Whose Knowledge? Thinking from Women's Lives (New York: Cornell University Press, 1991); and Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Ann Russo, and Lourdes Torres, eds., Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991).
4. See, for example, Bell Hooks, Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black (Boston: South End Press, 1989); Bell Hooks, Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics (Toronto: Between the Lines, 1990); Marnia Lazreg, The Eloquence of Silence: Algerian Women in Question (New York: Routledge, 1994); Sandra G. Harding, Whose Science, Whose Knowledge? Thinking from Women's Lives (New York: Cornell University Press, 1991); and Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Ann Russo, and Lourdes Torres, eds., Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991).
5. See, for example, Bell Hooks, Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black (Boston: South End Press, 1989); Bell Hooks, Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics (Toronto: Between the Lines, 1990); Marnia Lazreg, The Eloquence of Silence: Algerian Women in Question (New York: Routledge, 1994); Sandra G. Harding, Whose Science, Whose Knowledge? Thinking from Women's Lives (New York: Cornell University Press, 1991); and Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Ann Russo, and Lourdes Torres, eds., Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991).
6. See, for example, Bell Hooks, Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black (Boston: South End Press, 1989); Bell Hooks, Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics (Toronto: Between the Lines, 1990); Marnia Lazreg, The Eloquence of Silence: Algerian Women in Question (New York: Routledge, 1994); Sandra G. Harding, Whose Science, Whose Knowledge? Thinking from Women's Lives (New York: Cornell University Press, 1991); and Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Ann Russo, and Lourdes Torres, eds., Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991).
7. For example, see Ann Marie Goetz, "Feminism and the Claim to Know: Contradictions in Feminist Approaches to Women in Development," in Rebecca Grant and Kathleen Newland, eds., Gender and International Relations (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991). pp. 133-157. A critical analysis of cultural relativist and postmodern approaches is viewed as a "response to the challenge of difference" (p. 134).
8. Linda Hutcheon, "Postmodernism," in Irena R. Makaryk, ed., Encyclopedia of Contemporary Literary Theory: Approaches, Scholars, Terms (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993), p. 621.
9. Jane L. Parpart, "Who Is the 'Other'? A Postmodern Feminist Critique of Women and Development Theory and Practice," Development and Change, vol. 24, no. 3 (July 1993), p. 439.
10. Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993), p. xxiii.
11. Michel Foucault, Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972-1977, edited by Colin Gordon, translated by Colin Gordon, Leo Marshall, John Mepham, and Kate Soper (New York: Pantheon Books, 1980), pp. 51-52.
12. Parpart, "Who Is the 'Other'?" p. 440.
13. Foucault, Power/Knowledge, p. 80.
14. Lyotard, Postmodern Condition, p. xxv.
15. Jane Flax, "Postmodernism and Gender Relations in Feminist Theory," in Linda J. Nicholson, ed., Feminism/Postmodernism (New York: Routledge, 1990), p. 48.
16. Ibid., p. 42.
17. Ibid., p. 49.
18. Mohanty, Russo, and Torres, Third World Women; Parpart, "Who Is the 'Other'?"; Caren Kaplan, "The Politics of Location and Transnational Feminist Critical Practice," in Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan, eds., Scattered Hegemonies: Postmodernity and Transnational Feminist Practices (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994), pp. 137-152; and Vidyamali Samarasinghe, "The Place of the WID Discourse in Global Feminist Analysis: The Potential for a 'Reverse Flow'" in Gay Young and Belle Dickerson, eds., Colour, Class and Country: Experiences of Gender (London: Zed Books, 1994), pp. 218-231.
19. Mohanty, Russo, and Torres, Third World Women; Parpart, "Who Is the 'Other'?"; Caren Kaplan, "The Politics of Location and Transnational Feminist Critical Practice," in Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan, eds., Scattered Hegemonies: Postmodernity and Transnational Feminist Practices (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994), pp. 137-152; and Vidyamali Samarasinghe, "The Place of the WID Discourse in Global Feminist Analysis: The Potential for a 'Reverse Flow'" in Gay Young and Belle Dickerson, eds., Colour, Class and Country: Experiences of Gender (London: Zed Books, 1994), pp. 218-231.
20. Mohanty, Russo, and Torres, Third World Women; Parpart, "Who is the 'Other'?"; Caren Kaplan, "The Politics of Location and Transnational Feminist Critical Practice," in Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan, eds., Scattered Hegemonies: Postmodernity and Transnational Feminist Practices (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994), pp. 137-152; and Vidyamali Samarasinghe, "The Place of the WID Discourse in Global Feminist Analysis: The Potential for a 'Reverse Flow'" in Gay Young and Belle Dickerson, eds., Colour, Class and Country: Experiences of Gender (London: Zed Books, 1994), pp. 218-231.
21. Mohanty, Russo, and Torres, Third World Women; Parpart, "Who is the 'Other'?"; Caren Kaplan, "The Politics of Location and Transnational Feminist Critical Practice," in Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan, eds., Scattered Hegemonies: Postmodernity and Transnational Feminist Practices (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994), pp. 137-152; and Vidyamali Samarasinghe, "The Place of the WID Discourse in Global Feminist Analysis: The Potential for a 'Reverse Flow'" in Gay Young and Belle Dickerson, eds., Colour, Class and Country: Experiences of Gender (London: Zed Books, 1994), pp. 218-231.
22. Harding, Whose Science, Whose Knowledge? p. 183.
23. Michele Wallace, "The Politics of Location: Cinema/Theory/Literature/ Sexuality/Me," Framework, vol. 36 (1989), p. 53.
24. Ibid., p. 53.
25. See Angela Davies, "Reflections on the Role of the Black Woman in the Community of Slaves," Black Scholar, vol. 2 (December 1971), pp. 3-15; Angela Davies, Woman, Race and Class (London: Women's Press, 1982); and Bell Hooks, Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism (Boston: South End Press, 1981).
26. See Angela Davies, "Reflections on the Role of the Black Woman in the Community of Slaves," Black Scholar, vol. 2 (December 1971), pp. 3-15; Angela Davies, Woman, Race and Class (London: Women's Press, 1982); and Bell Hooks, Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism (Boston: South End Press, 1981).
27. See Angela Davies, "Reflections on the Role of the Black Woman in the Community of Slaves," Black Scholar, vol. 2 (December 1971), pp. 3-15; Angela Davies, Woman, Race and Class (London: Women's Press, 1982); and Bell Hooks, Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism (Boston: South End Press, 1981).
28. Kum-Kum Bhavnani, "Tracing the Contours: Feminist Research and Feminist Objectivity," Women's Studies International Forum, vol. 16, no. 2 (1993), p. 96.
29. For a historical overview, see Philomina E. Okeke, "From Global Sisterhood to the Assertion of Difference: The Emerging African Feminist Scholarship," African Update: A Newsletter of the CCSU African Studies Program, Central Connecticut State University (Fall 1994), pp. 6-7.
30. Ifi Amadiume, Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Gender and Sex in an African Society (London: Zed Books, 1987), p. 8.
31. Parpart, "Who Is the 'Other'?" p. 443.
32. Tiyambe Zeleza, "Gendering African History," African Development, vol. 18, no. 1 (1993), pp. 116-117.
33. For instance. Claire Robertson takes this stance at the end of her review of the relevant historical literature in "Developing Economic Awareness: Changing Perspectives in Studies of African Women, 1976-1985," Feminist Studies, vol. 13, no. 1 (Spring 1987), pp. 97-135.
34. Ibid., p. 127.
35. See Kathryn Ward, ed., Women Workers and Global Restructuring (Ithaca, N.Y.: ILR Press, 1990); Sheila Lewenhak, The Revaluation of Women's Work (London: Earthscan, 1992); Rae Lesser Blumberg, "Introduction: EnGENDERing Wealth and Well-Being in an Era of Economic Transformation," in Rae Lesser Blumberg, Cathy A. Rakowski, Irene Tinkor, and Michael Monteón, eds., EnGENDERing Wealth and Well-Being: Empowerment for Global Change (Boulder, Colo.: West view Press, 1995), pp. 1-16.
36. See Kathryn Ward, ed., Women Workers and Global Restructuring (Ithaca, N.Y.: ILR Press, 1990); Sheila Lewenhak, The Revaluation of Women's Work (London: Earthscan, 1992); Rae Lesser Blumberg, "Introduction: EnGENDERing Wealth and Well-Being in an Era of Economic Transformation," in Rae Lesser Blumberg, Cathy A. Rakowski, Irene Tinkor, and Michael Monteón, eds., EnGENDERing Wealth and Well-Being: Empowerment for Global Change (Boulder, Colo.: West view Press, 1995), pp. 1-16.
37. See Kathryn Ward, ed., Women Workers and Global Restructuring (Ithaca, N.Y.: ILR Press, 1990); Sheila Lewenhak, The Revaluation of Women's Work (London: Earthscan, 1992); Rae Lesser Blumberg, "Introduction: EnGENDERing Wealth and Well-Being in an Era of Economic Transformation," in Rae Lesser Blumberg, Cathy A. Rakowski, Irene Tinkor, and Michael Monteón, eds., EnGENDERing Wealth and Well-Being: Empowerment for Global Change (Boulder, Colo.: West view Press, 1995), pp. 1-16.
38. Taiwo Olufemi, "Women's Studies Methodologies," in Women's Studies in Nigeria and Canada: A Comparative Approach, Proceedings of the Initial Workshop for the Canada-Nigeria Linkage in Women's Studies, Canada International Development Agency, 1988, p. 26.
39. Marnia Lazreg, The Eloquence of Silence: Algerian Women in Question (New York: Routledge, 1994), p. 11.
40. Lyotard, Postmodern Condition, p. xxiii.
41. Incident witnessed by the author.
42. Donna J. Haraway, Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinventions of Nature (New York: Routledge, 1991), p. 178.
43. Kirin Narayan, "How Native Is a 'Native' Anthropologist?" American Anthropologist, vol. 95, no. 3 (1993), p. 672.
44. Linda Alcoff, "The Problem of Speaking for Others," in Susan Ostrov Weisser and Jennifer Fleischner, eds., Feminist Nightmares: Women at Odds: Feminism and the Problem of Sisterhood (New York: New York University Press, 1994), p. 292.
45. Ibid., p. 299.