27 Mar Paradigm Shifts and Patricia Hill Collins: Black Feminist Thought

Use this text as the major reference.

Longhofer, W. and Winchester, D. (2012). Social theory re-wired (2nd ed.) [Electronic version]. Routledge: New York.

Read the excerpt by Patricia Hill Collins, Black Feminist Thought in Section Four of the course text. Collins’s powerful work challenges us to rethink what we think we know, not just about race and gender, but also about knowledge itself. As you read this selection from Black Feminist Thought, reflect on how Collins is using the lived experience of black women to challenge the dominant epistemologies of many classical theorists you’ve read.

Answer the following:

Explain why it is important to include unique perspectives such as race and gender in general theoretical works as presented in the introductory essay.

As presented in the introductory essay, explain the concept of discursive domination.

What does Collins mean when she describes Black feminist thought as “subjugated knowledge”?

Collins argues that particular criteria of positivism—an epistemological approach that upholds the scientific method—are especially problematic for black feminist thought. Identify these criteria and describe in your own words how it leads to the oppression of alternative knowledge.

Collins is perhaps best known for her concept of “intersectionality” in which multiple systems of oppression, or what Collins calls the matrix of domination, overlap to create systematic inequality that each of us faces in our own unique way. Draw upon your own lived experience to describe a concrete situation in which you found yourself at the center of a matrix of domination, either as a victim or as an oppressor.

Your initial post should be at least 500 words in length. Support your claims with examples from required material(s) and/or other scholarly resources, and properly cite any references