2018-19 Academic Catalog

In this course we will study some of the ways feminist theorists have contributed to our understanding of gender in connection with knowledge, reality, and justice. We will consider both recent work in the field and classic discussions of these questions from the 70s, 80s, and earlier. In the first unit we will ask how a person's gender identity is related to knowledge and experience, particularly through a discussion of standpoint epistemology (according to which the experiences of marginalized and disadvantaged people provide special access to particular kinds of knowledge). In the second unit, we will discuss what gender difference is. This unit will begin with various approaches to the idea that gender is socially constructed, and then consider the connections between gender and other aspects of identity, like race and class. The third unit will ask how gender should inform our understanding of politics by considering a variety of feminist political projects and calls to action.