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Challenging Academic Norms: An Epistemology for Feminist and Multicultural Classrooms Author(s): Shari Stone-Mediatore Source: NWSA Journal,
Vol. 19, No. 2 (Summer, 2007), pp. 55-78 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40071205 . Accessed: 09/07/2013 10:39
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AcademicNorms:An Epistemology Challenging Classrooms forFeminist and Multicultural

SHARI STONE-MEDIATORE theorists andfeminist educators Evenwhile defend standpoint progressive textsconthevalue ofmarginalized manymarginal-voice perspectives, due to their in moretraditional academiccontexts tinueto be deprecated and creative Thus,scholars styles. engaged, seemingly "unprofessional," curriculum needa theory a feminist and multicultural whoseektodefend and accounts thatgoes beyondcurrent theory standpoint ofknowledge in whichmanymarginal appear. standpoints format fortheunorthodox and postcolothisessaydrawson feminist In response to thischallenge, nial critics Smith,ChandraMohanty, Dorothy including ofobjectivity, value theepistemic and Arundhati de Chungara, Barrios Royto theorize tomarginalized with thatrespond people's passionand creativity oftexts with oriented I distinguish In conclusion, ethically engagement struggles. " mere"politicized such texts waysto teach teaching, and I suggest from critical their such textsthatcultivate potential. / multicul/ feminist epistemology standpoint marginalized Keywords: Smith/Arundhati turalism Roy/Barrios /Dorothy /ChandraMohanty de Chungara /globalization in higher eduto have gaineda foothold seems finally Multiculturalism as well as cation.In recentyears,women'sand ethnicstudyprograms have multiwithmulticultural teacher-education components programs canons andliterary havebecomethenorm, requirements plied.Diversity authors. to includerepresentative haveexpanded Yet,despite "minority" ofcensorship subtleforms ofuniversity curricula, broadening significant from to silenceand deprecate continue marginalized manytextswritten "Workby women of color and marginalized says groups," standpoints. it accessible in a manner thatrenders bell hooks,"especiallyifwritten in academicsettings" to a broadreading public,is oftende-legitimized thatacademicnormsdeem Smithlikewiseobserves (1994,63). Dorothy suchthatwhensomebrave and topics"professional," styles onlycertain on theworldbyanchoring alternative to recover writers perspectives try workfalls their lives ofoppressed their groups, analysisin the everyday outsidethe boundsof "proper (1987, 60). In performance" professional whenseveralyearsago I joinedan interdisciplinary myown experience, readfor ourcommon and suggested on "globalization" workshop faculty third Galeano,and other prominent Roy,Eduardo ingtextsbyArundhati each ofmy feminist world andthirdworld rejected writers, mycolleagues
2007 NWSA Journal, Vol. 19 No. 2 (Summer)
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Shari Stone-mediatore
andsometimes their texts, suggested sociallysituated, regarding engaged, as inimicalto seriousknowledge. literary styles This essay addressesthe dilemmaraisedby hooks, Smith,and my own encounterwith exclusionary knowledgepractices,namely,that textsthatpresent alternatives to dominant worldviews also tendto defy norms.As a result, to educators scholarly despiteefforts by progressive teachmarginalized and by feminist theorists to perspectives standpoint the marginalized to be textscontinue justify standpoint, marginal-voice devaluedin moretraditional academiccontexts. Eventhoseofus located in humanities moresympathetic to engagedand personal departments texts will likely confront biases against such texts when we pursue workwith (often such as interdisciplinary better-funded) departments economics and politicalscience,wherefeminist havehad methodologies less influence. who seek morefeminist, less exclusionary Thus,scholars needa theory ofknowledge thatgoesbeyond current knowledge practices andaccounts theunorthodox in whichmany for format standpoint theory marginal-standpoints appear. In responseto this challenge,I draw on feminist and postcolonial ofobjectivity, withmy own analysisoforthodox and critiques together alternative on transnational economicprocesses, to re-examine writings the divisionbetween"objective"knowledge and "subjective" story. My aim is not merely to invert thisbinary but to contribute to continuing feminist efforts to dismantlethe binary, so that "objectivity" can no be invoked to authorize textsthatconform to certain longer uncritically and stylistic normsand to dismisstextsthat, in attempt methodological to convey thestruggles ofpeoplemarginalized bothin social lifeand academicdiscourses, combineempirical withpassionateand creative rigor I arguethatwe can defend suchwriting without critical writing. forgoing standards orembracing all stories, butwe do needto rethink intellectual andpedagogical standards so as to accountfor theepistemic value ofclose and creative withhistorical life. engagement
The MythofObjectivity
Continuedappealsto objectivity as a touchstone in many oflegitimacy academicand professional circlesis curious, that this given concepthas been largelydiscredited by Marxist,feminist, hermeneutic, postcolotheorists. calls for reflect nial,andpoststructuralist Certainly, objectivity such as the concern to make our claims legitimate concerns, knowledge accountable to a broad closeempirical publicandto testourclaimsagainst these concerns were investigations. however, Unfortunately, by pursued andmany inprobEnlightenment twentieth-century analytic philosophers lematicattempts to use thenatural sciencesas modelsofmethodological
Challenging Academic Norms
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andeventhesubtleandvariedarguments ofthesephilosophers certainty, have sincebeen reduced to a simplistic notionof "objectivity": the idea that universal,bias-free knowledgecan be attainedby cleansingour ofall emotional, factors.1 social,and cultural knowledge practices Criticsof objectivity arguethat the demandto eradicatesubjective is incoherent influences from because we cannotknow our knowledge humanbeings whobelong to thesameworld world as fully except engaged andwho makesenseofthatworldthrough thatwe study culturally given forinstance, defends whatsome have called her starting points.Arendt, ifshe were accountofNazi deathcampsbyexplaining that, "subjective" rich descriptions, this to eliminateall of her morallyand emotionally morerigorous but onlystrip thedeathcamps wouldnotmakeherstudy essenceas humanphenomena oftheir (1953,78-9). Feminist standpoint thatwe always view the worldfrom our theorists argue,furthermore, locationswithinit, such thateven our society'smost credible specific interest-driven Hermeneutic arisefrom beliefs sociallysituated, inquiry.2 are thatour culturally theorists add to thisargument givenworldviews sense oftheworld.We shouldcera necessary making starting pointfor ourreceived beliefs as we study testandrevise specific phenomena, tainly but we cannotexpectto avoid prejudices by assuminga transcendent "universalstandpoint"; indeed,the naive idea that we have done so intact.3 usuallvleavesourmostentrenched prejudices and Violence Objectivity the valorization of traitsassociatedwith is a myth, Even if objectivity In particular, historical effects. have real and can dangerous objectivity thekind ofdistance anddetachment valorization an unqualified promotes institutionalized violence.Certainly, thatfacilitates ofmoralnumbness hersubjectmatter shouldhave some degreeof distancefrom a theorist reacclaimsshouldnotbe immediate insofar as herknowledge personal accountable reflections. and publicly tionsbutwell considered However, one's distance from and geographic absoluteemotional whenwe confuse that such distance is itself with we matter "objectivity," forget subject As a a social location,namely,one of isolationfromsocial problems. disas sheltered social when we standpoints "professional result, sanctify from of those who can remove themselves the voices we tance," privilege social thevoicesofthosewho experience social ills whilewe undervalue more directly.4 suffering we overlook the qualitiesof whenwe valorizedetachment, Likewise, Dediand emotional closeness. thatareknown theworld through physical of indicated the Norman defender catedforest knowledge Joan importance whensheattributed herappreciaclosenesstophenomena through gained "You cannot to herwalksin thewoodswithhergrandson. tionfor forests
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(O'Shea2005, justreadaboutwildplaces,"shesays,"youhavetogo there" creed Arundhati a similar 42). Social critics Royand Paul Farmer practice in India and to when theytravel, to Adivasicommunities respectively, to rural LatinAmerica towalkamong andoffer topeoplesubjected support allow economic violence.Only"compassion andsolidarity," saysFarmer, a writer to breaktheconditioned silenceofsubjugated peopleand to hear ofpain and struggle thatawaitsympathetic ears(2003,27).s expressions we withrigor, whenwe confuse distanceand detachment Ultimately, underthe guise ofprofessional an irresponsible promote, responsibility, inattention to livingbeings and a concomitant ethics of callousness of and indifference. Nazi administrators such contradictions exemplified thedeath whentheyassumedan "objective attitude" toward objectivity ofmass execution as coollyas ifthey to technicalities camps,attending weremanaging a bank(Arendt academics and 1992,69).Although ordinary bureaucrats areless directly in murder, aloofness involved ourdisciplined can similarly violencein technical whileourconscience abstractions bury defers to "professionalism." For instance, objectiveFrench purportedly and UnitedNationsmembers from a standon refrained reporters taking French in Algeria, in thefaceofcolonial colonialism onlyto modelapathy from to international violence,while today's"experts, anthropologists healthspecialists chooseto collude"witheconomicviolencebyignoring it in the name of "neutrality" (Fanon1963,77-8; Farmer 2003, 10, 17). facilitate thischarade, ofIndia's as whenplanners "Objective"discourses from ethicalquestions raisedbythedisplacebigdamsshieldthemselves mentofhundreds ofthousands ofindividuals thesepeopleto byreducing the category "ProjectAffected People,"or simply"PAP,"a termwhich muscleandbloodintocoldstatistics" conveniently "mutate[s] (Roy1999, Frenchcolonial reporters, and contemporary 32). For Nazi bureaucrats, a convenient alibifor ourback alike,objectivity analysts provides turning to painand suppressing be compassionate impulsesthatwouldotherwise troubled byviolence.
The Persistence ofObjectivity

that objectivity is untenableand undeDespite compelling arguments continuesto police the boundaries of knowledge sirable,this standard in many professional contexts.6 Norms of objectivity are particularly in the naturalscience-modeled but recentattempts strong disciplines, to prohibit classroomdiscussionof "controversial material"(e.g.,as in proposed"Academic Freedom"bills) indicatethat popularconflations of responsible of perspective and passion inquirywith the eradication can applyto all fields.The persistent culturalforceof objectivity may be due,in part, to theinterests served by thisstandard and,in partmore
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to the absence of a generally criterion acceptedalternative innocently, and accountability. intellectual for however, rigor Ultimately, measuring ourbasic standard, itsepistemological and can remain despite objectivity ofthe concept ethicaldubiousness, onlybecause philosophical critiques on everyday have had littleinfluence ofobjectivity knowledge practices. are not new,progressive educators Thus, while critiquesof objectivity the hegemony of dominant still must who seek to disrupt knowledges that and methodological to the discursive practices applysuch critiques I contribute in thenameofobjectivity. to to command continue authority valorization ofsuch how ourunqualified thisproject below,by showing whiledevaluing viewsfrom criticism dominant tends to insulate practices from standpoints. marginalized knowledge Data Abundant Empirical dimensions ofour ofthemeasurable accurate analysis Granted, empirical even critics of ofcredible worldis a crucialcomponent Thus, knowledge. and Galeano Arendt, Roy, support Fanon,Farmer, including objectivity, historical documented as possible,with carefully theirclaims,insofar as one element data not merely whenwe treat data.However, empirical we favor theperspective ofobjectivity, butas thehallmark ofknowledge in data documented concerns have their who moreoften ofthosegroups thatstructure in the frameworks institutionalized worldviews and their has ample data on theU.S. government forinstance, data. Significantly, thehuman dataon policeviolence, ratesbutno central economicgrowth or the destructive betweenhealthand poverty, costsofwar,therelation marks lefttheir withthelatter wasteproducts, ofindustry effects having with a text we consider When testimonies.7 in unofficial replete mainly we not only to be objectiveand dismisspersonaltestimony, statistics institutions withofficial silenceperspectives record-keeping unpopular have been some about butsuppress registered phenomena why questions to record failure havenot.The Bushadministration's in datawhileothers oflooking to theurgency attests in theIraqWar8 casualties civilian beyond dataavailability. "harddata" to thepoliticsthatunderlie the also tendsto privilege ofampledatawithobjectivity The confusion influhave the latter insofar as dominant of greater groups perspective For in whichdata are interpreted. frameworks ence overthe conceptual in colonial and French medical,psychiatric, legalprofessionals instance, violentcrimein termsof a worldview Algeriavieweddata on Algerian and naturalizedsocial social phenomenafromhistory that abstracted the them to regard dataas evidence"that allowing communities, thereby was a borncriminal" theAlgerian (Fanon1963,296).Whenthesame data resistance to colonialism, oftheir in thecontext wereviewedbyAlgerians ofcolonialsocial relations. it couldbe seen as a symptom Nevertheless,
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the interpretation of the Frenchprofessionals (and not the Algerians) informed theseemingly medicalsocietiesandlegalinstitutions. objective arestructured evenbefore dataareframed Furthermore, they historically, oftheworld" andprocedures bythecategories bywhich"therawmaterial tendto be formulated is "processed as data,"and suchresearch processes with a view to implementing policies and by scholarsand bureaucrats regulating people (Smith1987, 161-4; 1990,53-5, 85-92, 116-30).This of hard data on rulingways of dividing dependence up and governing on the number forinstance, whennewscasters peopleis evident, report of "illegal aliens" crossingthe border, working"American"jobs, and "American"schools,forthesesupposed"facts"are produced attending ofMexicanimmigrants to regulate the activities by agenciesconcerned andwhosecategory thedominant culture's assump"illegalalien"reflects ofrights tionsaboutthesanctity and thedependence ofnationalborders on nationalcitizenship. Neutrality anothercentralmarkof "objectivity," is also deceptive. "Neutrality," forour Forinstance, the textmy colleaguesselectedas the centerpiece A Future The Challenge Perfect: university's globalization workshop, and Hidden PromiseofGlobalizationbyJohn Micklethwait and Adrian Such stanWooldridge (2000),seemedto them"balanced"and "neutral." measure"extremes" and "imbalances"againsta takendards, however, whichis constituted the media as well as "center," for-granted through elite-dominated discourses.9 account oftheiragreement On professional with such a culturally constituted Micklethwait and Wool"center," account of transnational institutions can economic dridge's laudatory - despitetheirfailure seem "balanced" to engagea singleof the many seriouscritics oftheseinstitutions. due to the culturalcontingency of what counts as the Similarly, authors from dominant tendto seem neutral "center," culturally groups while writers whose identities deviatefromthe culturally constituted normare considered biased.10 Like my colleagues, some ofmy students haveunwittingly When attested to thisskewedcharacter of"neutrality." askedto compare twowell-respected butquitedifferent histories ofU.S.- one a standard LatinAmerican relations thatfocuses collegetextbook on theconcerns ofU.S. policymakers andtheother Galeano'sextensively - several documented indictment ofU.S. imperialism students responded that"Galeanois biasedbecausehe is LatinAmerican." The samestudents did not attribute anybias to the otherbook's two authors, despitetheir NorthAmerican education and identities.
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No PersonalExperience insois also stackedagainstwomenand marginalized groups Objectivity from and restricfaras it demandsan abstraction personalexperience and public-sphere tion to generalized analysis.Textswith such a focus of but theytendto reflect the perspective may appearperspective-free, institutions and who relate to access to who have greater public people abstract the worldthrough analysis.At the same time,theyoverlook is based on direct ofthosewhose knowledge theperspective experience, who enduretheharmsofpublicpoliciesin their lives,and who, private are deniedaccess to thepublicarenaand such harms, whentheyprotest " such as their resistance can express channels, onlythrough unofficial" even suicide.11 or strikes, hunger community speak-outs, we notonlyprivilege as objective, discourses abstract Whenwe mystify but also insulate of scholarsand technocrats the detachedstandpoints accountsof Forwhen abstract from criticalfeedback. theirstandpoints to test who are as reality, the social worldare treated positioned people as such abstracttheory mothers, nurses, experience, againsteveryday mustfitthe worldtheyexperiand research social workers, assistants, withtheresultthat"[e] ence intoreceived very thing goingon categories, of frameworks fit the does not . . . that in theeveryday prescribed settings instituwhen the unsaid" is left (Smith1990, 100).Moreover, reporting ofreporting" frameworks the "prescribed tionsthatdetermine regularly the social and the one on of social costs human the hand, policies, neglect and its systemic social suffering on theother, causes ofhumanailments, causes tendto be the "unsaid."12 ofabstract, The mystification analysislikewiseallows depersonalized and to appeardignified scholarswho use detachedtechnicaldiscourses who turnto moreengagedand creative, while writers "self-confident" "unsaid" humanaspectsof the social nontechnical languageto recover oreven "an as "unprofessional" workdismissed worldtendto have their Marx human to 280, 1997, emphasis 65; 2003, (Cohen dignity" injury David Dollar and Aart Bankeconomists World Forinstance, in original). thesocial from distance oftheir in part, byvirtue authority, convey Kraay to abstract of the latter reduction their and public processestheystudy annual per capita such as, "[t]heaggregate statements indices.Granted, one percent from accelerated rateoftheglobalizing steadily group growth information relevant in the 1990s" can offer in the 1960sto fivepercent thathave joinedthe globaleconomy(Dollar and Kraay about countries for statements whenwe mistakesuch technocratic 2002, 121);however, human and contested diverse the obscure we implications truth, objective while we allow people forspecific ofthe globaleconomy communities, - as dismissed tobe summarily thosehumanmeanings to express whotry the Roy was, when the SupremeCourt chargedher with "pollut[ing]
62
stream ofjustice/7 to express some ofthehumancosts uponherattempt ofIndia's"economicgrowth" (Roy2001b,97). "Objective" scholarshipdoes not always exclude personal stories for thelatter often andsupport claims; entirely, analytic helpto concretize thedevaluation ofexperience allowsscholars to invoke however, personal storiesin merelyinstrumental ways to servepreconceived arguments, whileignoring thecomplexity can andchallenges that experience personal whenapproached Columas a sourceoffresh Forinstance, present insight. bia University statesthatthe social merits professor, Jagdish Bhagwati, of "globalization" about the are easy to see, "once one startsthinking matter and empirically." His supposedly deeply deepempirical investigarefer to "Japanese housewives" who came tions, however, onlyabstractly to "the West"withtheir husbandsand who subsequently learned"how womencouldlead a better who in poorcountries" life,"and to "[w]omen workfor transnational andfind that"workawayfrom home corporations can be liberating" (2002,5). He does notciteanyoftheactualwomenfor whomhe is supposedly can elidesuchwomen's and,as a result, speaking withtransnational ofdiscontent ample(evenif"unofficial") expressions corporations.13 Micklethwait andWooldridge citespecific butonlysuperindividuals, to show theiracknowledgment of poverty-related not ficially suffering, to explore dimensions and mechanisms ofpoverty thatthey havenotyet theorized. Forinstance, the authors offer a brief ofa youngunemstory ployedBraziliancouple whose odd jobs barelyallow themto feedtheir child. This storyand the accompanying statistics on poverty seem to balanceto theauthors' the provide pro-globalization however, argument; authors reducetheGobetti quickly coupleto an exampleof"nonstarters: lives" and thensuggest woefully underequipped peoplelivingmiserable thatsuch misery arisesfrom theircountry's "backwardness" (Micklethwait and Wooldridge 2000, 255). Theyproceedto claim that"[o]nlythe mostidioticcritic wouldtry to lay all thesefailings unem[i.e.,poverty, at thefeetofglobalization," and theyillustrate their ployment] directly Brazilian his ill pointby citingan unemployed magicianwho attributes fateto a Las Vegasperformer who appeared on television and gaveaway his secrets(Micklethwait and Wooldridge 2000, 258). This unemployed "idioticcritic," but as the onlycritic magicianmaybe an easy-to-refute the authorscite here,his brief story(and thatof the Gobetti's) merely substitute for withopposing views. genuine engagement does notalwaysfavor theunderdog and Certainly, personal experience even a sensitive ofpersonal withinan analysisof integration experience current tradeinstitutions cannotsettledefinitively thequestionofthose institutions' merits. attentive withhistorical Nevertheless, engagement to therichand complexaspectsofsocial experience opensup discussion dominantworldviews, phenomena,includingaspects that contradict
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ofavoiding close engagement withexperience whilethepractice ensures frameworks remain thatruling unchallenged. conceptual AbsenceofRhetoric is theseeming absenceof markof"objectivity" A particularly deceptive account theorists have argued, coherent ofthe As narrative rhetoric. any the work of rhetorical world work, dividing including phenomena employs suchunitsthrough "unitsofcontent," intodiscrete qualifying metaphor Ifa textappears within a narrative frame. to theunitstogether andrelating rhetorical conceal thisis onlybecausecertain be rhetoric-free, techniques and other discurhandwhilethenarrative theauthor's units, metaphors, withdominant and so consonant areso customary sivedevicesemployed thattheyappearto be merereporting.14 worldviews forinstance, and Wooldridge, Micklethwait promisein theirpreface can the book so that"the subject,the arguments" to "disappear"from not the do themselves" really (2000,viii);however, arguments speak"by but merely form"by themselves" appearto do so, in part,because the For culture. commonin the dominant constructs use rhetorical authors as order economic current transnational to the refer the authors instance, with accords the term that uncontroversial a "globalization," seemingly andDollar and scholars newsandwithother (including Bhagwati evening of a ideal the conflates the term globalexchange general however, Kraay); trade andlending withcurrent ofideasandresources corporate-dominated and thatpromote institutions industry capital-intensive export-oriented, Their to regulate oflocal communities theability restrict corporations.15 to sanctify allows the authors use of "globalization" prevailing slippery and to dismisscriticsof these as "globalization" economicinstitutions ofcurrent nature theundemocratic ofwhomareagainst institutions (most as relations not perse16) "antiglobalists." institutions, global to "waves of globalization," also refer and Wooldridge Micklethwait in fact, is a metaphor. butthat, raiseseyebrows thathardly term another neoliberal current This metaphor institutions, includingthe presents theInternational TradeOrganization, World Fund,and neolibMonetary American FreeTradeAgreement suchas theNorth eraltrade agreements of an effect were if these as anonymous processesthatflow (NAFTA), and the social obscures It into politicalinterests naturally place. thereby violent as well as theoften theseinstitutions thathavepromoted suppresunlike sion of popularunrestneededto maintainthem.17 Nonetheless, of "vampirecapitalism"and Galeano's controMarx's vivid metaphor term"waves versialimageofLatinAmerica's "openveins,"theauthors' forthe neutral their text's disturbs ofglobalization" appearance, hardly in has become standard "waves" to historical of processes comparison from thedeeply It derives ourculture. paradigm Enlightenment ingrained
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of"progress," nations whichpresents as ifit consisted ofdiscrete history flows oftimethatadvancenaturally, likewavesin an ocean,toward riding their in Western destination liberalinstitutions. The authors'"wave" metaphor and implicit "progress" paradigm play intoruling not onlyby naturalizing socio-historical ideologies processes but also by projecting a supposedly aim in termsof universal historical whichto measurea nation'smaturity level. This projected "end ofhisa convenient tory"dovetailswithracismto provide ideologicaltool for from British colonialists to current offoreign-led imperialists, promoters forit allows themto rationalize in comintervention "development," munitiesdeemed"backward."18 This paradigm for forms the backdrop, and Wooldridge's claim that statisticson instance,of Micklethwait's African and violenceconstitute evidenceof "the backwardness poverty of some countries" the figures as evidenceof (2000,256). In presenting African nations'"backwardness," theauthors (notunliketheFrench psychiatrists citedbyFanon)presuppose that"backwardness" is an internal of discrete nationalities whose groupcharacter can be reduced property to statistical indicesand located on a universalhistorical stream.The same paradigm enables the authorsto call economically marginalized a metaphor thatsuggests people"nonstarters," unproductive peoplewho have failedto catchthewaves ofhistory and Wooldridge (Micklethwait theauthors claimthattheentire African 2000,256).Continuing likewise, continent is resistant to historical advancement. "It is difficult to see," and violencein Africa] is likelyto change, theysay,"how [thepoverty ofeducation and penchant for giventhecontinent's neglect incompetent andWooldridge governments" (Micklethwait 2000,256).19 withAfrican knowsthatAfrican scienceand Anyonefamiliar history culture "started" to European had,in fact, quitewell on theirown prior interventions while contemporary African is not innateto the poverty continent's but is structured, "penchant"forincompetency rather, by transnational processes,includingthe same colonial and neocolonial whichhave subtended Micklethwait and processes Europe's"progress."20 can allegeto "disappear" from their even as theymake Wooldridge text, outrageousclaims about African"backwardness," only because their claimsaccordwitha discourse ofprogress so ingrained in ourculture that their racistrhetoric passesunnoticed.
The Epistemic Value ofStoriesand Testimony

Whenwe specify thecontradictions ofthemethodological and discursive that we cleara space for more"subjective" practices pass as "objective," we stillneedto explaintheepistemic texts,marginal-standpoint however, value of the latter.Takingfeminist a step further, I standpoint theory
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examinebelow how textsthatanchortheiranalysisin the lived experiand resisted havevalue not encesofpeoplewho have suffered oppression on theworldbutalso as alternative forms standpoints onlyas alternative whose simultaneously and ofknowledge empirically grounded, engaged, role.My claim,whichbuilds creative formats playa unique intellectual is feminist analysisof experience-oriented writing, upon transnational with enhanceourthinking butthatsome engagement notthatall stories with stories (justas someengagement passion-driven experience-sensitive, and responsible is crucialto rigorous dataand theory) inquiry. as Story The Marginalized Standpoint theorists arguethat standpoint Buildingon Hegel and Marx,feminist of from the that standpoint people living begin knowledgepractices can bring underscrutiny or exploitation ofoppression underconditions has this The marginalized beliefs andinstitutions. entrenched standpoint in subordinate because critical positionsconfront, people socially power of our social orderwhile their in theirdaily lives, the contradictions can exposethepowerrelations and exploitation to oppression resistance "natural" that ourseemingly thatmaintain waysoflife.Thus,knowledge can lives and of the from exploited, resisting standpoint oppressed, begins and beliefs into critical thereby helping practices, ruling insight provide thatshape thefactors andeffectively moreself-consciously us to confront ourlives.21 theorists presenta compelling standpoint However,while feminist ofmarginalized from the that case for lives, standpoint begins knowledge format the unexamined leave "unprofessional" story-like, largely they writers feminist oftenappears.Transnational in which this knowledge to the in for unorthodox need the to writing responding help explain and Alexander as such Critics of Jacqui groups. struggles marginalized that institutions transnational the Chandra investigate specific Mohanty Bank suchas theWorld economicinstitutions ourlives,including govern and ethnichierarchies, as well as gender and WorldTradeOrganization oftenexploit and reinforce. which economic institutions They point betweenthe claims of rulinginstitutions out that the contradictions worldwomen, are mostacute forthird effects actualhistorical and their within"free"and forthesewomentendto remainthe most oppressed resistance societies.At thesame time,their "democratic" multi-pronged can indicatethe complex and exploitation to sexism,authoritarianism, andthekindofworknecessary relations ofcontemporary character power thinkers feminist them.Thus,transnational to transform emphasizethe the from world the social of standpoint importance theorizing particular thesewomen's worldwomenand,mostimportantly, ofthird connecting ofdomination.22 relations to far-reaching ofstruggle livedexperiences
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third Alexander and Mohantyrecognize, thatengaging furthermore, worldwomen'sexperiences for critical and transforas a resource insight mativepoliticsis not a straightforward process."[T]hepointis not just 'to record' one'shistory ofstruggle" but"thewaywe read, saysMohanty, and disseminate such imaginative records is immensely receive, signifiin a waythatdoes ofstruggle cant,"thatis,we needtoaddress experiences notsimply treat them as evidence ofoppression or"difference" butinstead thecomplexity oftheexperiences, locatestheexperiences within respects transnational relations ofdomination in whichall ofus are situated, and identifies elements ofresistance, comevenwithin themostmarginalized munities as Suchnuancedanalysisdemands (1991a,34J.23 rigor empirical well as creative and engaged as Mohanty for, inquiry emphasizesand as theabovetextson globalization standard academicapproaches illustrate, tonarrating others' livestendmerely to reduce thoselivestopreconceived theories and objectifying thatgenuinely Thus,thinking categories.24 pursues the standpoint from others' lives cannotbe expected to conform to "what countsas scholarly or academic('real?')historiography" but will in and creative narration likelymix historical analysiswithempathetic order to addressexperiences outsidethepublicspotlight and irreducible to received theories 1991a,36). (Mohanty sensitiveand innovative narration is also crucialto the Emotionally from thestandpoint ofmarginalized livesbecause,as processofthinking some standpoint theorists have acknowledged, resistant are experiences self-evident buttendtobe "inchoate"and "a struggle to articulate" rarely because a per(Smith1987,58; Harding1991,282). This occurs,in part, son's experiences offrustration withor resistance to social normscan be overshadowed formed consciousness. byherideologically Compounding - categories thisproblem, thecategories bywhichwe interpret experience ofidentity as well as categories such as "advanced"and "backward" or - are formed "home" and "work" from the standpoint of the dominant so thatexperiences withwhite, culture, incongruent uppermiddle-class, male-centered cultureoftencannot be articulatedin straightforward Gloria Anzaldiia,forinstance,could turnher frustration with prose.25 between"American"and "Mexican" into critical society'sdichotomy soul searching and experimental insight onlythrough writing, bywhich she sifted memories and wove autobiography withhisthrough painful so as to traceher "mixedbreed"statusto the history toryand poetry, of U.S. exploitation of Mexican resources and to reviseher seemingly in terms ofnew metaphors thatembrace cultural schizophrenic identity andcross-border alliances(1990b).Other sentiments intermingling times, ofresistance toruling institutions becausepeoplein defy easyarticulation areunableto acton their resistant so that marginalized positions impulses thelatter and incomplete for emerge onlyin contradictory gestures. Roy, recounts the story ofa displacedindigenous man who protests instance,
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off deadthanliving in theresettlement thathisbabywouldbe better site, in his arms(1999,54). evenwhilehe rocksthebabygently to articulate character ofmanyexperiences Giventheelusive,difficult it is notsurprising that(likeAnzaldiia) andresistance, some ofoppression critics oftheglobaleconomicorder, ofthemostpowerful including Roy, andFarmer27 academicconventions to experiment Galeano,Fanon,26 forgo to the existential richness and ethicalpull withstylesmoreresponsive I have described such of marginalized Elsewhere, people's experiences. its particular content as "storytelling": that,whatever writing writing and withthe complexities or style, fully engaged reckoning beginsfrom and thenuses thisengageofspecific contradictions people'sexperiences on ourshared fresh for as a springboard withexperience ment perspectives and to rulesofevidence is accountable world. Suchnonfiction storytelling in "stoandreports; citespublicrecords andthusoften however, accuracy withspecific expericlose,attentive engagement emotionally rytelling," and disciplinary adherenceto preconceived ences overrides categories thantheother rather wayaround.28 norms, andcreative thepowerofengaged demonstrate The abovecritics analyFor conventional absentfrom criticalinsight sis to provide scholarship. instance,in Open Veins of Latin America,one of the books rejected who Galeano writesas a nonspecialist forour globalization workshop, seeks"a talkwithpeople"abouttheir (1997, poverty widespread region's theircondition, understand 265-6). Concernedto help his community resources ofLatinAmerican the exploitation documents he precisely by he also makesclearthathe writes U.S. and European however, interests,with those who have been exploited of empathy a standpoint from by from theBolivianeconomy he presents Forinstance, institutions. ruling heat to polar "from he accompanied ofthe miner theviewpoint tropical - in thesamepoisoned - for hours coldandbackagainto theheat,always in air,"who has losthis senseoftasteand smelland who,ifnotcrushed strikbulletsthatgreet accidentor shotwithone ofthearmy's a mining will likelybeginto vomitblood and die ofsilicosiswithin ingworkers, a decade on the job (Galeano 1997, 150-1). Such people's storiesturn into"murder economicstatistics (Galeano 1997,5). bypoverty" Galeano also invokesmetaphors social inequality, To help demystify In place of historical a new lighton the latter's thatthrow significance. in which as a Darwiniancompetition, of history the rulingmetaphor successis self-justifying, and historical and losersare inevitable winners of"vampire he elaborates describing capitalism," uponMarx'smetaphor of "open veins" whose wealthis devoured LatinAmericaas a region by withwellthisimageofusurpation He supports interests. foreign corrupt trade andlending ofthewaythatneoliberal documented policies analysis offoreign economiesto the interests orientLatinAmerican capitaland institutionalize inequalityamong and withinnations,but he thereby
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"humanbloodoffered makesno attempt to be neutral abouttheresulting metaon thealtarofproductivity" another (Galeano 1997,281).Invoking in whichsacrificial victims werecalled ancientIndianrituals, phorfrom notas merelosers thosewho have diedin struggle, "doors,"he revisions thewayto whosefate is their sacrifices" whomark butas "fertile destiny, but "confronts new possibilities withina history thatis notpredestined theconscienceofman witha burning challenge"(Galeano 1997,8, 261). a conceptof and Wooldridge Thus, whereasMicklethwait presuppose in whichhistory arisesfrom sideswiththesuccessful andpoverty progress his inquiry "thebackwardness ofsome countries," Galeano,bydirecting to theaim ofhelping of his community control overtheconditions regain their tobe a function ofU.S. "backwardness" lives,showsLatinAmerican and European ofan unjustand changeable "development" system. In "The GreaterCommon Good," anothertextrejected forthe globalizationworkshop, Roy "tell[s]politicslike a story"so as to recover detailsandmeanings dams whitewashed on India'slarge byofficial reports herdefiant herspecific is India'sdamindustry, (2001a,36).Although target ofpassionand poetry the intosocial analysisalso challenges integration in many market-oriented discourses ofvalue,whichcommand authority contexts. the asserSuch authoritative discourses include,forinstance, tionsofDollar and Kraaythat"the best availableevidence"showsthat "the current wave ofglobalization . . . has actuallypromoted economic andreduced claim their equality (2002,120).The authors poverty" support withreference to similargeneralizations as economists, by like-minded well as "harddata,"suchas thefactthat, intothe uponhaving integrated worldmarket, India's"percapitaincomegrowth now topsfour percent" (2002,125, 127). the authority ofsuch seemingly not Roychallenges objective reports, "seriousinquiry" withpersonal butbydisplacing the byreplacing stories, between thetwo.She interweaves opposition empirically grounded analysis andestimates ofthetotalnumber ofpeopledisplaced (noofficial figures are available)with tales of displacedindividuals, on poetic reflections herfindings, and wryhumor thatexposesthelaughable side of"serious" institutions. Forinstance, thehistory ofdisplaced some tracing families, ofwhomIndia'sSupreme Courtwill offer a minimalcash compensation, shefinds thatmany andfarming communities fishing had,for generations, sustained themselves off theland and rivers ofthemoney independently economyand with "as much use formoneyas a SupremeCourtjudge has fora bag offertilizer" have now (Roy 1999,20). Manysuch families but thisis onlybecause,having been forced joinedthemarket economy, off their traditional have takenrefuge in slumsand joinedthe lands,they a risein "per pools ofcheapmanuallabor.Dollar and Kraaymayregister Affected capitaincome"andtheIndiangovernment maymanage"Project butno economiccharts can makepalpable People"with"resettlement,"
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forfarmers who have cultivated the same whatit means,Roy suggests, to watchtheir homesdismantled and their landfor standing generations whooncefound all they neededin the for forest-dwellers bulldozed, crops a piece offruit, or for to be unableto afford forest peopleonce self-suffito deathorsitting on city tohaveto choosebetween cientandfree starving as wage laborers like goodsforsale" (1999, themselves streets "offering sheagrees with manwhether 53).WhenRoyasksthewifeofthedisplaced dead thanlivingin the off herhusbandthattheirbabywould be better thatthewoman"didn'treply" resettlement camp,and whenshe reports "costs"ofthedams,which us to consider she provokes but "juststared," let alone quantified cannotbe articulated, (1999,54). stories thelimitsof"expert" bypursuing knowledge Royalso indicates Forinstance, boundaries. and discursive ofthe dams acrossdisciplinary the many facetsof life in Madhya Pradeshthat will be investigating linksbetween affected people, Royhighlights byits slatedsubmergence, and fishing, places, and riversthat the expertsneglect:ancientferry, forests thatnourish who aresustained communities bytheriver, farming of river and tensof thousands and moderate wildlife a diverse siltation, When in theforest. peoplewho findall theyneed to survive indigenous therole and mastery, arebenton rigid theyoverlook categories planners as well as ourlimthata river life-systems playsin such interconnected made the "Have engineers itedabilityto mastersuch interconnections. andrain?"asksRoyofthetechnocrats between connection rivers, forests, forest ofsubmerged to replace50,000hectares who presume old-growth It isn'tpartof and tribalmuseum."Unlikely. witha wildlife sanctuary brief" their (1999,64). ofselectdetailsevokestheexistential Whenhersubtlerecounting sigand whenhersarcasmrevealsthe foolishness ofdisplacement nificance how "objective" no matter us that, of"seriousknowledge," Royreminds to be reduced andindustry peoplecannot mayappear, reports government In calculations. to market be reduced cannot andprogress figures, fungible and idenmeasurement us to value thatconfounds monetary sensitizing undermines Roynot only titythatexceedspeople'srolesin themarket, our own complabut also disrupts of "objective"reports the authority us She provokes intricate communities. cencywithpoliciesthatdestroy realities the consider readers and NorthAmerican living alike)to (Indian bindus however andthetiesthat, effaced unmasterable, byourcategories world. to therestoftheliving also shouldbe mentioned here,forthis genre, by which Testimony for historical a fulcrum as struggles ordinary people use theireveryday in specifically orderto analysis,was revivedby the Cuban revolution In LetMe Speak!:Testimony "real"historiography. redefine ofDomitilia, demonde Chungara a Womanof theBolivianMines,Domitila Barrios overlooked notonlyto foreground thepoweroftestimony, strates people
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in orthodox but also to recasthistory itselfas a realmof conhistory, creteand open-ended In a sectionentitled, "How a Miner's struggles. WifeSpendsHer Day," Barrios of wakingat recounts her dailyroutine in herchildren 4:00 a.m. to makebiscuitsto sell,cookingand caring for a one-room, about eviction shack,and worrying no-plumbing company shouldherhusband die ofsilicosisora mining accident. She seguesfrom "I" to "we," as she recognizes thesame burdens shared byherneighbors, husbands' and whenshe tracesthewomen'scommonhardships to their meagerwages,her storyraises probing questionsabout the systemin whichthey live: "[E]ven if[theminer's wifeis] onlyat home,she'spartof thewhole system ofexploitation thathercompanero lives in," saysBarto a mere rios,"isn'tthattrue?"(1978,36). Her accusationis irreducible indictment ofeither women'soppression orBolivian "backwardness," for, in herspecific she also hercritique byanchoring community's struggles, revealsthatthe womenmustworkwiththeirhusbands, peasants,and sometimes evensoldiers to fight thatexploits all ofthemand thesystem thatsuchpopular the evenunder havebeenviolently struggles repressed, U.S.-supported "democracy." Barriosalso highlights the agencyof seemingly Throughtestimony, obscurecommunities. her activismwith the local HouseRecounting wivesCommittee, womenwho volunteer she foregrounds impoverished to assist otherwomen with daily problems, who press demandssuch as better conditions forthe miners and better nutrition forthe working and who do so withthe minimalresources availableto them, children, a radiotransmitter, anddynamite whoseuse would namely strikes, hunger kill themalongwiththeir cataOne oftheir strikes antagonists. hunger nationwide but the crucialrole of the women lyzeda successful strike, was quicklyforgotten have bymenwhilemostofthewomen'sactivities beentoo diffuse and their results too indeterminate to countas historical events.Nevertheless, if "housewivescommittees" make history rarely thatsuch anonymous and collective books,Barrios's testimony suggests activism ofordinary themostobscured forms ofdomipeoplecan address nationand can, in theprocess, nurture morecooperative forms ofsocial relations thatoffer seedsfor substantive social change. Barrios demands ofherreaders thesame situated Significantly, engagementas she herself While Galeano leaves no neutralground practices. from which to approacha contested and Roy challengesus to history facethe costs of our own comforts, Barrios often with ends statements us to considerforourselveswhether her claims questions,prompting true.She also stresses that"we all have ourrolesto playin history" ring and thateveryone is needed,including "even the peasants, housewives, who want to be with us" (Barrios youngpeople and the intellectuals in part, is compelling, 1978,44). Her appeal to us to join herin struggle becauseitcomesfrom a common whohas herself madea difference person
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in history between and, in part,because in actualizingthe connection writer and activist, theorist and participant, she deniesus the excuse of for avoiding politicalengagement. "professionalism" hereveryday lifeto publichistory, Barrios Ultimately, by connecting ofhistory historical recaststhe structure itself; identities, here,are not actorsare not politicalleaders sharedstruggle, innatebut builtthrough the economy, and history is not about but peoplewhose laborsupports all peoplehavesafeworking condibutaboutwhether diplomacy top-level thewide-ranging of their children. tionsandmilkfor Among implications in the age of thosewho remaindestitute it presents thisparadigm shift, or "nonstarters" butas historical activnotas merevictims globalization and whose communities ourown thinking istswhoseprojects challenge each ofus can chooseto join.
AcademicNorms Rethinking
suchas Barrios, Writers illuminating perspectives Roy,and Galeano offer univerareneither on thehistorical certain, world, yettheseperspectives The conventional responsetowardthe incongruence sal, nor objective. ofsuch textswithacademicnormshas been to excludesuch textsfrom a morehonestalternative (andone crucialto however, inquiry; rigorous is to rethink ofmarginal-standpoint thedefense knowledge texts) rigorous of"storytelling" in light ofthevitalcontribution andresponsible pedagogy to ourthinking. of textslike those We mightdescribethe intellectualcontribution thekindofmindfulness aboveas advancing described bywhichwe orient and innovain theworld.Engaged and responsibly ourselves reflectively orientation canguideourthoughtful ofhistorical tivenarration experience and inchoatepheoverlooked us to consider in the worldby prompting narrative andentrenched ossified parcategories nomena, bydestabilizing andbybridgfamiliar so as to openup newwaysofviewing events, adigms andthecharacters ourselves between connections narrated, ingemotional others. us to ourplace as beingslivingamongst so as to sensitize "Rigor,"when viewed in lightof this epistemicrole of storytelling, - an to thenuancesofspecific attention calls for phenomena full-person between barriers erectsemotional when a writer thatis thwarted effort moments demands careful andthoseshestudies. herself inquiry Certainly, one's and considering one's immediate back from ofstepping experience detachment from a broader matter however, complete standpoint; subject does not constitute one's subjectmatter from but,on the contrary, rigor whenviewed realities. to living "accountability," Likewise, insensitivity does not demanduniversaland definitive of storytelling, as a function whichare and admittedly tentative butrather conclusions stories, partial
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of whenwe confront thecontribution opento others' responses. Finally, to humanthinking, we see thatintellectual aims areinsepastorytelling rablefrom ethicalones,forethicalvalues such as recognition of others as livingpersons, forthe social effects ofour actions,and responsibility in democratic communities are essentialto a richand rigparticipation orousunderstanding ofourworldas a worldwe sharewithothers and a in whosewebofrelationships world historical havemeaning. phenomena In effect, whereas"objectivity" in the endorses an ethicsofindifference nameofneutrality, an affirmation assertsthatresponsible "storytelling" demand ethicalorientations, in particular knowledge practices sensitivity toward others and mindful in ourcommunities. participation To teachin a way thataffirms thevalue ofstorytelling and its ethical aims is risky. It risksacknowledging thatnot onlythetextsbut also we educators ourselves are situated in theworldwe study and motivated by ethicalconcerns. we can distinguish an acknowledged social Nonetheless, locationand a general ethicalorientation ifwe recogfrom dogmatism, nize thatperspective and ethicalconcerndo not end debatebut,on the Forinstance: Ifwe study with theworld contrary, openup newquestions. theaim oforienting in ourcommunities ourselves thenwhat responsibly, can thetextthrow on ourownhistorical locationandrelationships? light Ifwe arerelated to thematerial we study, thenhow do ourownliveslook ifwe weave themintothe text'snarrative? And ifwe always differently readfrom social and cultural thenwhat aspectsof particular positions, ourworldare obscured and whataspectselucidated (and by the author's ourown)standpoints? for Uponreading instance, Roy'sessay, myCritical class explored how the marketed-oriented values thatgovern Thinking India'sdam industry influence ourown lives,how we (notunlike might middle-class thatdistance Indians)might employ objectifying categories us from our neighbors, and how the standpoint of India'sAdivasicomso distant from new lighton ourown munities, seemingly us, can throw and values. We also thematized lifestyle Roy'sunorthodox writing style forinstance, whether theempirical claimsthatRoypresents are asking, thanthoseshe criticizes and whether hersarcasm anymoretrustworthy andemotionally ladenmetaphors morecritical ormoreideologipromote cal thinking. Such questionsare vexing, but theyimpressed on students theirresponsibility as readers to evaluatethe effects thateach texthas on us. We also can distinguish oriented withmarginalethically engagement textsfrommere "politicizedteaching"by comparing such standpoint textsto moreconventional ones in order to force intotheopenquestions about the politicsof knowledge. For instance,studentsin my Global Ethicscourse to Galeano'sOpen Veins withindignance initially responded toward theunabashed thatcolorshis writing. The textmight serve anger as a supplement to regular students butitis nothistory history, suggested,
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we compared sections in Galeano'sbook When, however, specific proper. similar to sectionscovering some students textbook, topicsin a standard howbothtexts wereshaped constituted bysocially begantorecognize perand rhetorical devices,so thatthequestionofwhatconstitutes spectives whatroleinterests andemotion "real"history, playin historical analysis, ifany, was central andwhichwas "merely andwhichtext, supplemental" becametopicsoflivelydebate. ofmarginal-standpoint narratives also differs An engaged from reading insofar as it exposesthelimitations ofour own theoteaching dogmatic Such exposure deniesus thepretense ofobjectivity riesand standpoints. to students theintellectual value ofself-awareness butalso demonstrates whenmyFeminist students read Forinstance, and humility. Philosophy offeminism we discusshow herdistrust Barrios's challenges testimony, be viewedby differus to examinehow ourown feminist projects might moveus personally, Wealso discusshowherstories women. situated ently and comforts as partofa worldin us to view ourown routines provoking children. WhenI sharewithstudents to feedtheir whichothers struggle tohercommunity leadsme to question dedication howBarrios' passionate I forgo to act morefully on mymoralpassions, "expert" myowninability and to facethe to riskself-examination students but I encourage status, thatthinking from others ownsociallocations abouttheir tough questions demands. livesultimately and about Such unsettling questionsabout our own social identities have no place in the "objecdiscursive thepoliticsofdifferent strategies and explicitly such self-reflective tive" classroom.Nevertheless, politiwithcreatively to seriousengagement cal questionsare integral written, a place in our texts.Thus, securing marginal-standpoint passion-driven no less thana rethinking of views demands formarginalized classrooms andemotionthosewhovalorizerhetoricbasicacademicnorms. Against thatknowledge ofourworldis always we mustaffirm free "objectivity," boundup withtheweb thatourlivesarealready in narrative form, already is achieved not and thatintellectual oflifethatwe study, therefore, rigor, ofstorytellers who continually butby a community experts bydetached as we exchange stories ourprojects and reconsider ourcategories rethink each other's be movedby and let ourselves withone another struggles. is Associate Professor Shari Stone-Mediatore of Philosophyat Ohio worksin feminist various She is the authorof WesleyanUniversity. and thepoliticsofknowledge including ReadingAcrossBorders: theory Resistance of and Knowledges (2003). Send correspondence Storytelling to ssstonem@owu.edu.
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Acknowledgment
comments. for I wishto thank readers theanonymous NWSAJournal very helpful
Notes
1. See Antony Code (1991, (1991,265-85), Harding 31-6,46-67),Gadamer (2006), and andAdorno Horkheimer (1998,1-13). (1991,77-163), 2. See Code (1991, 46-70), Harding(1991, 58-9, 142-56),and Smith (1987, 49-143). 3. See Gadamer (1991,265-85). 4. See Cohen (2003, 62-8), Fanon (1963, 7-78), and Smith(1987, 81-8; 1990, 89-102). 5. See also Arendt (2003,25-8),and Kheel(1985,144-8). (1953,77-8),Farmer 6. See Antony (2006),Code (1991,33-70, 175),and Smith(1987,1990). dataon policeviolence(ButtheU.S. government has no central 7. Forinstance, terfield ratessorted 2001),no data on mortality by economicclass (Farmer 2003, 45), no data on Iraqi civiliandeathsor on the armsand legs lost by in Iraq(Elizabeth American soldiers Cohen2004; Morley 2004),andno regular records on thehealtheffects ofindustry waste (Di Chiro 1996;Lydersen 1998). 8. See Morley (2004). 9. See Antony (2006)and Smith(1987,22-34,52-8, 109-17,161-4). 10. See Anzaldua(1990axxi)and Code (1991,8). 11. See Code (1991,241-50),Cohen (2003,62-8),Fanon(1963,187-9),Mohanty (1991a 33-5; 1991b,56-71),Smith(1987,57-60; 1990,89-104, 123-38),and Stone-Mediatore (2003,138-42). 12. See Farmer andSmith (2003,11-7), Marcusef 1991,109-14), Roy(1999,16-20), (1990,83-173). 13. See Kameland Hoffman (1999,26, 40, 45-6, 89-94). 14. See Barthes (1989,127-48)andWhite(1975,53-64). 15. On these effects of current see Fanon (1963, 102-74), global institutions, Galeano(1997,173-261), Hart-Landsberg (2006),and Shiva(1997).
75
Forum on Globalization 16. See International (2002),Kameland Hoffman (1999, and Shiva (2006). 111-5), 17. See Aristide (2003),and Fanon(1963). (2002),Galeano(1997),Farmer backwardness and slothfulness ofthesupposed ofnon18. Similardescriptions colonialistand imperialist discourses. Europeanpeople appearthroughout and For instance,Locke claimed that God gave land to "the industrious who "for rational"(1980,21) and not to people like the NativeAmericans wantofimproving land] bylabour,havenotone hundredth partofthe [their A conquering U.S. naval we enjoy"(1980,25-6,his emphasis). conveniences Wartold Indianchiefswhose villageshe in the Mexican-American officer I hopeyouwill alteryourhabits, and become had raided, "you are indolent. French colonial in Zinn and frugal" industrious 1999,163-4). (cited psychiawithout thespirit to thenativeAlgerian attributed trists puerility, "[m]ental in Fanon1963, child"(cited in theWestern found ofcuriosity 300).Eventoday, and their land as barren Arabsas unproductive Joffe (2005)describes Joseph a supposedly inherent celebrate andWooldridge whileMicklethwait "superior workers ofAmerican (2000,111). productivity" ofcolonialandneocolonial claimis typical 19. Here,too,theauthors' ideologies worldcountries in third intervention as theyrationalize insofar bypointing fromthe which theyhave abstracted social disorders, to those countries7 in Forinstance, thosedisorders. thathavegenerated transnational processes of destitutheirphotographs French a similarmanner, presented reporters ofAfricans7 as "verification" tionandviolencein post-independence Algiers to rulethemselves (Fanon1963,77). inability 20. See Fanon(1963,95-105,153-78)andHarding (1991,235-8). 21. See Collins(1986),Harding (1983),and Smith(1987). (1991),Hartsock and Mohanty 22. See Alexander (1991a),and Panjabi(1997). (1997),Mohanty and Panjabi(1997,153-6). and Mohanty 23. See also Alexander (1997,xxxvii-xl) 24. See Mohanty (1991b). 25. See Smith(1987,19-36,49-78, 161-75). work with on hispsychiatric ofcolonialism classicstudy 26. Fanon7s (1963)draws of mental case studies disorders. from mental individuals Although suffering seem "out ofplace" in a book ofsocial analysis, theyare neverthepatients thecases politically, whenFanoncontextualizes to thebook;for less integral thatsubtend ofdomination relations violent andprofoundly beliemyriad they thisorder call to resist whiletheyanimateFanon7s thecolonialsocial order (1963,249).
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ofindi27. Farmer, stories too,beginshis analysisofsocial suffering by tracing vidualswithwhomhe has becomepersonally and whose tales acquainted adumbrate connections humanrights betweenillness,poverty, abuses,and andracehierarchies, whichareobscured thatcompartmengender bytheories talizesocial lifealongdisciplinary lines(2003). 28. See Stone-Mediatore (2003,31-45,50-6, 101-23).
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Challenging Academic Norms: An Epistemology for Feminist and Multicultural Classrooms Author(s): Shari Stone-Mediatore Source: NWSA Journal,

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