Knowledge, Difference, And Power: Essays Inspired By Women's Ways Of Knowing

Knowledge, Difference, And Power: Essays Inspired By Women's Ways Of Knowing

An impressive and innovative follow up to Women's Ways of Knowing, this book shows how the authors' “ways of knowing” theory revolutionized the fields of law, education, psychology, and women's studies, to name but a few. In essence, this dynamic collection poses the ultimate question: Can we come to understand and respect diverse ways of knowing? Features: 15 essays, all written exclusively for this volume the essays are by the original authors of Women's Ways of Knowing and prominent contributors, including Sandra Harding, Aida Hurtado, Sara Ruddick, Michael Mahoney, and Patricinio Schweickart in separate chapters, the authors explore how their thinking has developed and changed since Women's Ways of Knowing argument is expanded beyond gender and knowledge to address the factors of color, class, and culture. In the late 1980s, Women's Ways of Knowing blew through academia and psychology like a stiff wind. Based on a demographically diverse study of women, it shouldered aside theories crafted around men that often cast a dubious light on how women know and learn. This scholarly book sparked angry debate in many fields, from women's studies to philosophy, law, and culture studies. The four original collaborators have convened with other contributors to revisit their theory, fill in some holes, and raise (or, in some cases, respond to) fierce challenges. Rather than reflexively defending the quartet's brainchild, lead author Nancy Goldberger paves the way toward expansion, stating that "theories are stories and authors of theories are storytellers." Coauthor Blythe McVicker Clinchy underscores this observation by taking the opportunity to clarify key distinctions between the twinned orientations of connected (empathic, receptive) and separate (critical, judgmental) ways of knowing. Also among the 14 essays is an incisive piece on how color and class differences that were routinely ignored by feminists and theorists might better be taken into account. --Francesca Coltrera Mary Field Belenky is a consultant on human development and an associate research professor at the University of Vermont. she lives in Marshfield, Vermont and New York City. Blythe McVicker Clinchy is a professor of psychology at Wellesley College and lives in Boston, Massachusetts and Marshfield, Vermont. Nancy Rule Goldberger is a member of the psychology faculty of The Fielding Institute in Santa Barbara, California, and lives in Housatonic, Massachusetts and New York City. Jill Mattuck Tarule is a professor and the dean of the College of Education and Social Services at the University of Vermont and lives in Essex, Vermont.