CONSIDER WHO CREATES KNOWLEDGE? Of The Men

Knowledge is produced by people  History is more than simply a record of events  Documents and historical archives are more than repositories of facts  Power relationships guide what is seen as important and how events, documents, people’s lives are represented or represented at all!

Who writes history? Who creates knowledge?  Point of View affects the knowledge produced: race, class, gender, sexual orientation—who is writing?  French Revolution (1789) – New Ideas About Power & Rights  Age of Enlightenment-Challenged Divine Right of Kings and asserted “The Rights of Man” against the rights of Kings (1791)

Who were the 1 st Wave Feminists?  Feminist response to “The Rights of Man?  “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” (What about women?) Elizabeth C. Stanton (1792) - Recognized the “Royal Tyranny of Kings and the Domestic Tyranny of Men”

What about race & women’s rights?  Response to white men and to white women:  “Ain’t I a Woman?” Sojournor Truth – African American woman who was a slave. Famous quote (1851) makes visible conditions faced by African American women slaves differed from European American Women. Challenged White Men and Women and argued Race/Ethnicity Matters! ● Sojourner Truth Challenged notion of women as incapable and weak: “Aint I A Woman?” (Doing hard, heavy, dangerous work side by side with men)

SOJOURNER TRUTH AT WOMEN’S RIGHTS CONVENTION (1851): ALICE WALKER READS EXCERPT  0aint%20i%20a%20woman&fr=mcsaoffblock - 0aint%20i%20a%20woman&fr=mcsaoffblock -

Was Sor Juana Inez de la CruCruz a Feminist?  Sor Juana (Mexico = )  The only way for a woman to obtain education was to become a nun  Recognized for her intelligence, poetry, wit, she became a central figure among the elite, educated Mexicans, then fell out of grace  Read Aloud: Satira filosofica/Interpret Meaning?  Any Contemporary Relevance? Why? Why not? 

Feminist Scholarship  Objectives:  Not only challenge historical accounts that omit women  Challenge how knowledge is produced  Challenge inequality faced by women

Feminist Analysis vs. Mainstream Social Science Analysis Mainstream Analysis Feminist Analysis  Women/Gender marginal to the analysis  Inequality between men and women is seen as “functional” or needed or unavoidable or “natural” so no change can happen  Analysis of personal relationships & “everyday” activities of women and men inconsequential to analysis  Women/Gender placed in the center of the analysis  Inequality between men and women is seen as “socially created” a problem to be solved, change needed  Analysis of personal relationships & “everyday” activities of women & men meaningful to analysis

1980s – Present What sparked Chicana Feminism ?

Chicana Feminists Motivated by…  Sexism within the 1960s-70s Chicano movement  Racism within the predominantly white middle class feminist movement  Racism and class discrimination in U.S.  The outcome created awareness about the many challenges women of color faced and how the challenges differed from those faced by other women!

New Frontiers in Chicana/o Studies?  Queer Studies & Sexuality: 1990s - Present  Questioning Heteronormativity and Homophobia  Becoming inclusive beyond narrow definitions of nationalism  Women & Sexuality