Thinking Gender, Nature and Power Together: a Hope for Standpoint Ecofeminism
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The Variety of Feminisms and Their Contribution to Gender Equality
JUDITH LORBER The Variety of Feminisms and their Contribution to Gender Equality Introduction My focus is the continuities and discontinuities in recent feminist ideas and perspectives. I am going to discuss the development of feminist theories as to the sources of gender inequality and its pervasiveness, and the different feminist political solutions and remedies based on these theories. I will be combining ideas from different feminist writers, and usually will not be talking about any specific writers. A list of readings can be found at the end. Each perspective has made important contributions to improving women's status, but each also has limitations. Feminist ideas of the past 35 years changed as the limitations of one set of ideas were critiqued and addressed by what was felt to be a better set of ideas about why women and men were so unequal. It has not been a clear progression by any means, because many of the debates went on at the same time. As a matter of fact, they are still going on. And because all of the feminist perspectives have insight into the problems of gender inequality, and all have come up with good strategies for remedying these problems, all the feminisms are still very much with us. Thus, there are continuities and convergences, as well as sharp debates, among the different feminisms. Any one feminist may incorporate ideas from several perspec- tives, and many feminists have shifted their perspectives over the years. I myself was originally a liberal feminist, then a so- 8 JUDITH LORBER cialist feminist, and now consider myself to be primarily a so- cial construction feminist, with overtones of postmodernism and queer theory. -
The Affliction of Human Supremacy
www.ecologicalcitizen.net LONG ARTICLE The affliction of human supremacy This article dissects the motivations behind and consequences of the worldview of Eileen Crist anthropocentrism, or human supremacy. Firstly, the author presents the just-so stories arising from the notion that the impact of humanity stems from our species’ essence. Instead, About the author the author argues, it is socio-cultural conditioning – specifically, the human-supremacist Eileen has been teaching credo propagated by the dominant culture – to which we must turn in order to properly at Virginia Tech in the understand humanity’s impact. Next, the typical beliefs arising from human supremacy Department of Science and are exposed, as are examples of its products: ideational and physical displacements. The Technology in Society since 1997. She has written and author also discusses the wisdom of limitations, the danger of shifting ecological baselines co-edited numerous papers and general ignorance of the current mass extinction event. Finally, after cautioning against and books, with her work the cult of techno-fixes, a brighter future is presented, which would be made possible by focusing on biodiversity rejecting the human-supremacist credo. loss and destruction of wild places, along with pathways to halt these trends. Eileen 2013 Economist article titled By contrast, the positive version of is a Consulting Editor to “Robochop: An Automated Jellyfish human nature as underlying driver of the Journal and lives in A Exterminator Takes to the Sea” planetary impact insists that we are after Blacksburg, VA, USA. reported a problem: innumerable jellyfish all special, perhaps even god-like. But so clogged the pipes of a Swedish nuclear far, this storyline continues, humans have Citation power plant, forcing it to shut down. -
Neoliberalism and Justice in Education for Sustainable Development: a Call for Inclusive Pluralism
Environmental Education Research ISSN: 1350-4622 (Print) 1469-5871 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ceer20 Neoliberalism and justice in education for sustainable development: a call for inclusive pluralism Helen Kopnina & Brett Cherniak To cite this article: Helen Kopnina & Brett Cherniak (2016) Neoliberalism and justice in education for sustainable development: a call for inclusive pluralism, Environmental Education Research, 22:6, 827-841, DOI: 10.1080/13504622.2016.1149550 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2016.1149550 © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group Published online: 15 Mar 2016. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 938 View related articles View Crossmark data Citing articles: 3 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ceer20 Environmental Education Research, 2016 Vol. 22, No. 6, 827–841, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2016.1149550 Neoliberalism and justice in education for sustainable development: a call for inclusive pluralism Helen Kopninaa* and Brett Cherniakb aFaculty Social and Behavioural Sciences, Institute Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands; bIndependent Researcher, Ontario, Canada (Received 5 March 2015; accepted 24 January 2016) Commonly conceived, sustainable development is concerned with social and economic equity and maintenance of ecological stability for future generations. The Brundtland Report addresses the ethical principles of intragenerational and intergenerational equity as fundamental pillars of sustainable development. This equity is often defined in economic terms, involving fair distribution of natural resources, and in practice dependent on the workings of a neoliberal market economy. -
Environmental Ethics Anthropocentrism
Environmental Ethics Anthropocentrism Introduction Anthropcentrism is the world view that places human beings as the center of the cosmos Five Interconnected Themes: 1) natural order has a grand hierarchy (a “Great Chain of Being) 2) the ontological divide between human and nonhuman nature 3) nature as a machine 4) only humans beings have intrinsic value/nature has only instrumental value 5) the moral community is limited to human beings Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) The Summa Contra Gentiles develops the ethical implications of the Great Chain of Being humans are closest to the likeness of God rational creatures exercise free will God bestows intrinsic value on rational creatures “Accordingly intellectual creatures are ruled by God, as though He cared for them for their own sake, while other creatures are ruled as being directed to rational creatures” (63) other creatures are slaves to their environment their actions casually determined by the environment thus human beings alone are morally considerable only human beings have freedom “he is free who is cause of himself . intellectual nature alone is free” human beings have the right to subjugate other beings below on the hierarchy “Hereby is refuted the error of those who said it is sinful for man to kill dumb animals: for by divine providence they are intended for man’s use in the natural order” (64) anticipating Kant, the only danger in killing dumb animals is that such behavior might lead to cruelty to human beings Francis Bacon (1561-1626) The Great Instauration focus of knowledge should be practical the improvement of the human condition knowledge is power over nature “the roads to human power and to human knowledge lie close together, and are nearly the same” this view of knowledge as power is stated more clearly in New Organon (1620) Title refers to Aristotle’s logical and methodological works known collectively as the Organon this will be a new organon, thus a new scientific method “Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known the effect cannot be produced. -
Humans, Robots, and Legal Imagination
laws Article Subject (in) Trouble: Humans, Robots, and Legal Imagination Ana Oliveira Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, 3000-995 Coimbra, Portugal; [email protected] Academic Editor: Margaret Thornton Received: 30 September 2019; Accepted: 30 March 2020; Published: 31 March 2020 Abstract: The legal conception and interpretation of the subject of law have long been challenged by different theoretical backgrounds: from the feminist critiques of the patriarchal nature of law and its subjects to the Marxist critiques of its capitalist ideological nature and the anti-racist critiques of its colonial nature. These perspectives are, in turn, challenged by anarchist, queer, and crip conceptions that, while compelling a critical return to the subject, the structure and the law also serve as an inspiration for arguments that deplete the structures and render them hostages of the sovereignty of the subject’ self-fiction. Identity Wars (a possible epithet for this political and epistemological battle to establish meaning through which power is exercised) have, for their part, been challenged by a renewed axiological consensus, here introduced by posthuman critical theory: species hierarchy and anthropocentric exceptionalism. As concepts and matter, questioning human exceptionalism has created new legal issues: from ecosexual weddings with the sea, the sun, or a horse; to human rights of animals; to granting legal personhood to nature; to human rights of machines, inter alia the right to (or not to) consent. Part of a wider movement on legal theory, which extends the notion of legal subjectivity to non-human agents, the subject is increasingly in trouble. From Science Fiction to hyperrealist materialism, this paper intends to signal some of the normative problems introduced, firstly, by the sovereignty of the subject’s self-fiction; and, secondly, by the anthropomorphization of high-tech robotics. -
Against Anthropocentrism: the Destruction of the Built Environment As a Distinct Form of Political Violence
Against anthropocentrism: the destruction of the built environment as a distinct form of political violence Article (Published Version) Coward, Martin (2006) Against anthropocentrism: the destruction of the built environment as a distinct form of political violence. Review of International Studies, 32 (3). pp. 419-437. ISSN 0260- 2105 This version is available from Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/12728/ This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies and may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher’s version. Please see the URL above for details on accessing the published version. Copyright and reuse: Sussex Research Online is a digital repository of the research output of the University. Copyright and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. To the extent reasonable and practicable, the material made available in SRO has been checked for eligibility before being made available. Copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk -
The Covid Pandemic, 'Pivotal' Moments, And
Animal Studies Journal Volume 10 Number 1 Article 10 2021 The Covid Pandemic, ‘Pivotal’ Moments, and Persistent Anthropocentrism: Interrogating the (Il)legitimacy of Critical Animal Perspectives Paula Arcari Edge Hill University Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/asj Part of the Animal Studies Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, and the Social Influence and oliticalP Communication Commons Recommended Citation Arcari, Paula, The Covid Pandemic, ‘Pivotal’ Moments, and Persistent Anthropocentrism: Interrogating the (Il)legitimacy of Critical Animal Perspectives, Animal Studies Journal, 10(1), 2021, 186-239. Available at:https://ro.uow.edu.au/asj/vol10/iss1/10 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] The Covid Pandemic, ‘Pivotal’ Moments, and Persistent Anthropocentrism: Interrogating the (Il)legitimacy of Critical Animal Perspectives Abstract Situated alongside, and intertwined with, climate change and the relentless destruction of ‘wild’ nature, the global Covid-19 pandemic should have instigated serious reflection on our profligate use and careless treatment of other animals. Widespread references to ‘pivotal moments’ and the need for a reset in human relations with ‘nature’ appeared promising. However, important questions surrounding the pandemic’s origins and its wider context continue to be ignored and, as a result, this moment has proved anything but pivotal for animals. To explore this disconnect, this paper undertakes an analysis of dominant Covid discourses across key knowledge sites comprising mainstream media, major organizations, academia, and including prominent animal advocacy organizations. Drawing on the core tenets of Critical Animal Studies, the concept of critical animal perspectives is advanced as a way to assess these discourses and explore the illegitimacy of alternative ways of thinking about animals. -
Developing a Critical Realist Positional Approach to Intersectionality
Developing a Critical Realist Positional Approach to Intersectionality ANGELA MARTINEZ DY University of Nottingham LEE MARTIN University of Nottingham SUSAN MARLOW University of Nottingham This article identifies philosophical tensions and limitations within contemporary intersectionality theory which, it will be argued, have hindered its ability to explain how positioning in multiple social categories can affect life chances and influence the reproduction of inequality. We draw upon critical realism to propose an augmented conceptual framework and novel methodological approach that offers the potential to move beyond these debates, so as to better enable intersectionality to provide causal explanatory accounts of the ‘lived experiences’ of social privilege and disadvantage. KEYWORDS critical realism, critique, feminism, intersectionality, methodology, ontology Introduction Intersectionality has emerged over the past thirty years as an interdisciplinary approach to analyzing the concurrent impacts of social structures, with a focus on theorizing how belonging to multiple exclusionary social categories can influence political access and equality.1 It conceptualizes the interaction of categories of difference such as gender, race and class at many levels, including individual experience, social practices, institutions and ideologies, and frames the outcomes of these interactions in terms of the distribution and allocation of power.2 As a form of social critique originally rooted in black feminism,3 intersectionality is described by Jennifer -
A Qualitative Study of Vegan-Omnivore Conflict Kelly Guerin University of Colorado Boulder
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by CU Scholar Institutional Repository University of Colorado, Boulder CU Scholar Undergraduate Honors Theses Honors Program Spring 2014 Where's the Beef? (With Vegans): A Qualitative Study of Vegan-Omnivore Conflict Kelly Guerin University of Colorado Boulder Follow this and additional works at: http://scholar.colorado.edu/honr_theses Recommended Citation Guerin, Kelly, "Where's the Beef? (With Vegans): A Qualitative Study of Vegan-Omnivore Conflict" (2014). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 109. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Honors Program at CU Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Undergraduate Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of CU Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Guerin 1 Where’s the Beef? (With Vegans): A Qualitative Study of Vegan-Omnivore Conflict Kelly Guerin Anthropology Departmental Honors Thesis University of Colorado at Boulder Defended April 4th, 2014 Thesis Advisor Dr. Darna Dufour, Department of Anthropology Defense Committee Dr. Abby Hickcox, Honors Program Dr. Steven Leigh, Department of Anthropology Approved by IRB on November 17th, 2013 Guerin 2 Introduction In 2010, the United Nations Environment Programme issued a groundbreaking environmental impact report focusing on the causes, rather than effects, of environmental degradation and stressed that agriculture be moved into the spotlight as a main contributor to the rapid depletion of resources. It was cited that agriculture accounts for 70% of the earth’s freshwater, 38% of total land use, 19% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Shockingly, half of the crops produced were directed to the raising of livestock (UNEP report, 2010). -
Gender Pronoun Use in the University Classroom: a Post-Humanist Perspective
Transformation in Higher Education ISSN: (Online) 2519-5638, (Print) 2415-0991 Page 1 of 11 Original Research Gender pronoun use in the university classroom: A post-humanist perspective Authors: Background: This article explores the political impact of using gender neutral pronouns in the 1 Marcos Norris university classroom. Andrew Welch1 Aim: We explore how the gender neutral pronoun ‘they’ denaturalises essentialist models of Affiliations: 1Department of English, gender identity. We follow ‘they’ toward a consideration of the gender neutral pronoun ‘it.’ ‘It’ Loyola University Chicago, advances – at the same time that it problematises – the political project of non-binary Chicago, United States communities to denaturalise gender by challenging an anthropocentric model of equal rights. Corresponding author: Setting: We examine the latent humanism of pronoun use through our contrasting approaches Marcos Norris, to gender pronoun use in our writing courses. [email protected] Methods: First we discuss the role of genderneutral pronouns in building a more inclusive Dates: classroom environment for gender non-conforming students. We then consider our respective Received: 29 Oct. 2019 Accepted: 06 Mar. 2019 pedagogical approaches to pronoun use. Andrew avoids pronoun use in the classroom, Published: 25 May 2020 addressing his students by their first names instead, while Marcos makes pronoun use and gender identity a central part of his course curriculum. We then consider the pronoun ‘it’ from How to cite this article: a posthumanist perspective, arguing that ‘it’ might help to overcome the violent legacy of Norris, M. & Welch, A., 2020, ‘Gender pronoun use in the humanism by building a more inclusive classroom environment for gender-nonconforming university classroom: A students. -
White Men Can't Jump: Critical Epistemologies, Embodiment, and the Praxis of Legal Scholarship
White Men Can't Jump: Critical Epistemologies, Embodiment, and the Praxis of Legal Scholarship Peter Halewoodt I. INTRODUCTION II. EMBODIMENT, INTENTION, AND THE DILEMMA OF SUBORDINATION III. TOWARD A SITUATED SCHOLARSHIP: PERSPECTIVAL PLURALISM IV. FEMINIST STANDPOINT EPISTEMOLOGY, CRITICAL RACE THEORY, AND EMBODIMENT V. BRIDGING STANDPOINT: EMBRACING EMBODIMENT VI. EPISTEMOLOGIES APPLIED: TOWARD AN EMBODIED SCHOLARSHIP VII. CONCLUSION: TAKING EMBODIMENT SERIOUSLY f Assistant Professor, Albany Law School of Union University. I wish to thank Patricia Williams, Stephanie Wildman, Peter Strauss, Michael Halewood, Neil Gotanda, Martha Fineman, Harold Edgar, and Bob Chang for helpful comments and suggestions. Special thanks to Donna Young for extensive comments, encouragement, and many useful conversations. Thanks also to Lisa Codispoti, Kamayo Smith, and my editors at the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism for editorial work. Portions of this Article were presented at the Crit Networks Conference at Georgetown University Law Center, March 10, 1995, as part of a panel entitled "The Social Construction of Whiteness." I am grateful for the support of the Julius Silver Fellowship in Law, Science and Technology at the Columbia Law School, the Law Foundation of British Columbia, and an Albany Law School summer research grant. This Article is written in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of the Science of Law in the Faculty of Law, Columbia University. Copyright © 1995 by the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism Yale Journal of Law and Feminism [V/ol. 7: 1 Dehumanization . marks not only those whose humanity has been stolen, but also . those who have stolen it. The oppressors, who oppress, exploit, and rape by virtue of their power, cannot find in this power the strength to liberate either the oppressed or themselves. -
Feminism and the Mastery of Nature/Val Plumwood
Feminism and the Mastery of Nature Feminism and the Mastery of Nature draws on the feminist critique of reason to argue that the master form of rationality of western culture has been systematically unable to acknowledge dependency on nature, the sphere of those it has defined as ‘inferior’ others. Because its knowledge of the world is sytematically distorted by the elite domination which has shaped it, the master rationality has developed ‘blind spots’ which may threaten our survival. The future depends increasingly on our ability to create a truly democratic and ecological culture beyond dualism. The book shows how the feminist critique of dominant forms of rationality can be extended to integrate theories of gender, race and class oppression with that of the domination of nature. Val Plumwood illuminates the relationship between women and nature, and between ecological feminism and other feminist theories. Exploring the contribution feminist theory can make to radical green thought and to the development of a better environmental philosophy, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature challenges much existing work in green theory and environmental philosophy, and engages with the heavily masculine presence which has inhabited many accounts of the area. It will be essential reading for those working in these areas, and for all those seeking to understand the historical, philosophical and cultural roots of the environmental crisis and the culture of denial which blocks response to it. Val Plumwood teaches in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Tasmania, Australia. Feminism for Today General Editor: Teresa Brennan. The Regime of the Brother After the Patriarchy Juliet Flower MacCannell History After Lacan Teresa Brennan Feminism and the Mastery of Nature Val Plumwood London and New York First published 1993 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.