Postmodern Feminism

This paper offers a comprehensive overview of feminism’s historical development, ideological foundations, and categorical variants. Mohajan traces the evolution of feminist thought from early movements to contemporary debates, highlighting key challenges and future directions for global gender justice.

This influential 2000 article critiques both Judith Butler's theory of the subject and the practice of identity politics in feminism. Hekman proposes a middle ground between modern and postmodern conceptions of the subject while arguing for removing identity from the political realm entirely. The paper challenges fundamental assumptions about how feminism organizes politically around identity categories.

This 2000 article by leading feminist sociologist Sylvia Walby challenges the dominance of standpoint epistemology and the 'politics of location' in feminist theory. Walby argues that in an era of globalization, feminism needs to move beyond location-based knowledge claims and embrace the power of reasoned argument to make effective universal claims about gender justice. The paper engages critically with postmodern and postcolonial feminist theories that privilege particular standpoints over universal reasoning.

This essay explores the definitional boundaries and epistemological foundations of feminist theory, questioning what kinds of thinking and practice can be counted as 'theory' and how such distinctions affect feminist academic and political practice. Ermarth examines feminist theory's diversity and inclusivity from a postmodern perspective.

This groundbreaking 1990 essay provides a feminist critique of Habermas's theory of the public sphere. Fraser introduces the concept of 'subaltern counterpublics' to reveal the exclusionary nature of the bourgeois public sphere, arguing for the necessity of multiple publics and offering a new theoretical framework for understanding democratic participation and social justice.

This groundbreaking paper redefines the concept of objectivity, proposing 'situated knowledges' as a third way between traditional scientific objectivity and relativism. Haraway argues that all knowledge comes from specific positional perspectives, advocating for 'feminist objectivity' - a form of knowledge production that acknowledges partiality, location, and embodiment.