16 Sep WMNST382-Gender, Science and Technology DB4
Order Instructions
This week, we’re returning to one of the first concepts we were introduced to at the start of class – epistemology. This time around, we are going to examine some specifically feminist epistemologies (theories about knowledge) as they pertain to science, technology, and medicine – and beyond!
In particular, we’ll be examining an approach known as feminist standpoint theory. We’ll see what it is, what it’s potential strengths are, and finally where it may fall short. From there, we’ll begin our exploration of the crucial concept of intersectionality – what it means, how it works, and why it’s a powerful theoretical and practical approach in our feminist STS toolkit.
As we begin our week four journey, we might take our collective space here to consider the following ‘big picture’ questions that we’ll encounter in full force in class…
1.Does ‘objectivity’ mean the same thing as ‘neutral’? Are facts and values/meanings separate? Should they be separate? Why or why not?
2.Do different experiences of different groups in society lead to different perspectives and understandings of the world? That is – do we perceive and experience the world differently given our different individual and collective locations and positions in the world? Can we think of examples?
