Worlds of Knowing Global Feminist Epistemologies

includes index and biblioraphy

Part I: Beginnings Chapter 1: Knowledges/Foci 3 Examining the Poststructuralist Challenge 5 Postcolonialism and Its Impact on Theorizing 8 Knowledge, the Epistemic, and Frames of Categorization Women`s Appropriation of Knowledge 14 The View from Everywhere 17 Part 2: Asian Focal Points Chapter 2: Northern India and Its Cultures Androcentrism and Its Manifestations The Strands of the Feminine 29 An Historical View of Women 33 Women of Northern India Today 37 The Women`s Movement in Northern India Feminist Retrievals of Knowledge Traditions Recapitulating the Northern Indian View 47 Chapter 3: Dravidian India and Its Cultures 51 Masculinism and Its Concomitants 54 Searching for the Gynocentric 57 An Historical Trajectory 60 Contemporary Women of the South 64 Feminism in the South 68 Reappropriating the Tradition 71 An Overview of the Dravidian Regions 75 Chapter 4: Bangladesh and Islam 79 The Male-Centered Point of View 82 Realms of the Feminine 85 The History of Bengali Women 89 The Current Status of Women in Bangladesh 92 A Nascent Feminist Movement 96 Feminist Reconstitutions of the View 100 Summarizing the Bangladeshi Situation 103 Chapter 5: Nepal and the Himalayan Societies 107 Articulating the Male-Oriented View 110 Female-Centering within the View 113 The Nepalese Woman`s History 117 The Nepali Woman: A Contemporary Look 120 Feminist Beginnings in Nepal 124 Women and the Knowledge Path 128 The Nepalese View 131 Part 3: New World Focal Points Chapter 6: Mexico and the Mestizaje 137 Macho, Male-Centeredness, and Dominance 140 Female-Centeredness and Its Focal Points 143 Searching for the Historical Roots 147 Mexican Women Now 150 The Mexican Feminisms 154 Mexican Feminist Reconstructions of Knowledge 158 Recounting the Mexican Worldview 161 Chapter 7: Guatemala and the Indigenous 165 The Androcentric Outlook 168 The Gynocentric and the Traditional Culture 171 Historical Tie-ins and Their Importance 175 The Contemporary Guatemalan Woman 178 Feminisms of Guatemala 182 Reconstituting Knowledge 186 The Mayan Mythos 189 Chapter 8: Chicana/os 193 The Masculine and the Chicano 196 A Woman-Centered View 199 History and the Chicana/o 202 The Chicana Today 206 A Chicana Feminist Outlook 210 Reconstructing Ways of Knowing 214 The Chicana/o Trajectory 217 Chapter 9: The African Diaspora in the United States 221 Tracing the Androcentric 224 Unraveling the Gynocentric 227 Black Women`s Histories and Their Impacts 231 Contemporary Black Women 234 A Womanist/Feminist Response 238 Black Women`s Rebuilding of Knowledge 242 The African Diaspora in the New World 245 Part 4: Endings Chapter 10: Retrievals/Outcomes 251 Redefining Essentialisms 254 With Broad Strokes and Grosgrain Knowledge, Knowing, and Working Sexualities and Categories 263 Conclusions, Wished-for and Actual