Ways of knowing, feeling, being, and doing: Toward an Asian American and pacific islander feminist epistemology

Amerasia Journal

Volumn 35, Issue 2, 2009, Pages 49-64

  Yee, Jennifer A ^a  

^a CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 77952810454     PISSN: 00447471     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.17953/amer.35.2.u4671681k9351632     Document Type: Article

References (6)

1. Jennifer A. Yee, Fostering a Commitment to Democracy, Community, and Social Justice Across Generations: Lessons Learned from Asian Pacific American Community Activists, Their Mentors and Their Protégés. Ph.D. Diss, University of California, Los Angeles, 2001
2. Elaine Ngan-Ling Chow, "The Development of Feminist Consciousness among Asian American Women," Gender and Society 1:3 (September 1987): 284-299
3. Chow, "The Development of Feminist Consciousness among Asian American Women," 286
4. Collins organizes her theory by first outlining the "social construction of Black feminist thought." To explain, she asserts the existence of a "system of social control designed to keep African-American women in an assigned, subordinate place." This system is comprised of the economic exploitation of Black women's labor, political oppression through denial of civil rights, privileges, and inclusive education, and ideological oppression perpetuated by "controlling images" or stereotypes of Black women. Collins' definition of Black feminism holds that "Black women's struggles are part of a wider struggle for human dignity and empowerment." She then discusses core themes in Black feminist thought based on Black women's experiences (e.g., work, family, Black women's oppression in the United States, motherhood, sexual politics, etc.). She describes four dimensions of an Afrocentric feminist epistemology by offering what these perspectives look like to the women who live them. For example, the dimension "concrete personal experiences as a criterion for meaning" indicates that Black women will find a source of knowledge more credible if the person has actual experience with what she is talking about. The notion that truth and wisdom come from reflections on personal experience instead of an abstract external authority characterizes this dimension. See Patricia Hill Collins, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment (New York: Routledge, 1991)
5. Alice Walker, We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For: Inner Light in a Time of Darkness (New York: New Press, 2006)
6. Phoebe Eng, Warrior Lessons: An Asian American Woman's Journey Into Power (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990): 309-310