Haraway's Analysis
I would like to state first that I found this weeks readings particularly difficult to understand. I have several questions and a very limited grasp on what the authors were hoping to portray.
The spectrum of what we consider to be fact is actually a deeply limited and biased representation of the knowledge produced in the world. Due to Western cultural domination, knowledge produced there is taken as the standard of thought to which all other ideas must be compared. If they do not conform to that standard than they are not worthy of being taught or learned. According to Harding this is called exceptionalism, and particularly applies to Science. Haraway also speaks to the downfalls of viewing Western Science too highly. She states that …show more content…
Another element added to the discussion concerns the ability of people in dominant positions to truly understand their own bias, and to attempt work against them. Narayan states that " 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 relations to an oppression they do not share" (376). Not only is it, in my opinion, to truly understand an oppression you have not lived, but how can you understand an oppression you have been to view as intellectually insignificant? As Minh-Ha states in her nod to Lorde those who continually use the master's tools and live in the master's house are less likely to hear " what he doesn't want to hear" (264); therefore can feminists born and raised in the west ever truly separate their learned western understand of what constitutes knowledge from their desire to aid nonwestern feminists? Finally, Katrak states that language is culture, and therefore it is safe to assume that …show more content…
I enjoyed reading the Minh-Ha pieces because the author combined high theory with a very poetic prose. I found her discussion of silence to be particularly interesting especially in terms of knowledge production and reproduction. I believe that she illustrated female silence as a type of 'separation development' between women and men in both private and public spheres. Women are told to keep elements of their femininity but also to hide it depending on location or context, which is very similar to the ways dominated groups are taught to show "traditional" elements of their
The spectrum of what we consider to be fact is actually a deeply limited and biased representation of the knowledge produced in the world. Due to Western cultural domination, knowledge produced there is taken as the standard of thought to which all other ideas must be compared. If they do not conform to that standard than they are not worthy of being taught or learned. According to Harding this is called exceptionalism, and particularly applies to Science. Haraway also speaks to the downfalls of viewing Western Science too highly. She states that …show more content…
Another element added to the discussion concerns the ability of people in dominant positions to truly understand their own bias, and to attempt work against them. Narayan states that " 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 relations to an oppression they do not share" (376). Not only is it, in my opinion, to truly understand an oppression you have not lived, but how can you understand an oppression you have been to view as intellectually insignificant? As Minh-Ha states in her nod to Lorde those who continually use the master's tools and live in the master's house are less likely to hear " what he doesn't want to hear" (264); therefore can feminists born and raised in the west ever truly separate their learned western understand of what constitutes knowledge from their desire to aid nonwestern feminists? Finally, Katrak states that language is culture, and therefore it is safe to assume that …show more content…
I enjoyed reading the Minh-Ha pieces because the author combined high theory with a very poetic prose. I found her discussion of silence to be particularly interesting especially in terms of knowledge production and reproduction. I believe that she illustrated female silence as a type of 'separation development' between women and men in both private and public spheres. Women are told to keep elements of their femininity but also to hide it depending on location or context, which is very similar to the ways dominated groups are taught to show "traditional" elements of their