Writing History: Language, Class, and Gender

Smith-Rosenberg, Carroll

doi:10.1007/978-1-349-18997-7_3

Cited by 36 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…An established feminist historian, for instance, reproduces patriarchal patterns in her own rhetorical use of discourse. Carroll Smith-Rosenberg (1986) makes an argument for, in her words, a discursive or linguistic turn in historiography. She asserts:…”

Section: Gendered Discoursementioning

confidence: 99%

Rhetorical and Historical Inquiry in the Feminist Reconstitution of Knowledge

Altman

1988

Journal of Communication Inquiry

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Rhetoric has often been in the scapegoated position of the radically &dquo;other&dquo;-sometimes elevated as the marginal hope of language or more frequently debased as its common whore. It is usually contrasted with logic or science which may assume the figurative position of legitimate 'wife' of the mind. The tendency to expect everything or nothing at all from rhetoric is still prevalent, as is the ambivalence the term itself seems to engender. (Dominick LaCapra 1985) Among the many problems examined in contemporary feminist thought are feminism as politics vis-fi-vis feminism as theory, feminism in science, and the relationships among feminism and other critical studies such as marxism, deconstruction, and postmodernism. Feminist scholarship across the divisions of the academy challenges traditional research questions, procedures, and theories used in the production of knowledge and argues for a reconstitution of knowledge by placing women and their relations at the center of the process of inquiry. Recently, for example, a conference titled &dquo;Feminist Studies: Reconstituting Knowledge&dquo; brought together scholars from the fields of science, history, literary studies, psychoanalysis, and social theory. An important dimension of the conference and its publication, Feminist StudieslCritical Studies, involved the interdisciplinary or, perhaps, non-disciplinary approach to knowledge as a feminist pursuit (de Lauretis 1984). Part of the feminist &dquo;reconstitution&dquo; demands challenging the division and compartmentalization of knowledge established by the academy, the same institution which now, it is claimed by some, works to mainstream feminist critical practice for its own recuperative purposes.Scholars in communication studies are generally open to suggestions of interdisciplinary approaches to knowledge. Communication researchers often work with concepts related to social psychology, organizational theory, and sociology, for example. Media or mass communication theorists work with a variety of social scientific concepts (such as sociological ones), on the one hand, or with critical and interpretive ones (such as political-economy or literary theory), on the other.Rhetorical scholars also work theoretically and critically with concepts related to literary criticism, philosophy, or linguistics. On this fundamental point of the interdisciplinary construction of knowledge, then, it would seem that a feminist

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Section: Gendered Discoursementioning

confidence: 99%

Rhetorical and Historical Inquiry in the Feminist Reconstitution of Knowledge

Altman

1988

Journal of Communication Inquiry

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“…As they pursued their moral purpose, these women retained the hierarchical dualism of the dominant discourse. But instead of romanticizing the mythic heroic Jacksonian “Common Man” of male literature, the reformers replaced him with a wicked degenerate who was “‘loose’ and ‘common’ indeed.” At the same time, they turned a negative female stereotype “into an amazonian St. George charging a male dragon” (Smith‐Rosenberg 1986, 41, 47, 51, 52).…”

Section: Unofficial Storiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying the Concept of Gender: Unsettled Questions

Upin¹

1992

Hypatia

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In commenting on Susan Bordo's discussion of gender bias, 1 both support and build on her contention that women's exclusion from philosophical discourse has been epistemologically and politically significant. But I also explore difficulties associated with applying the concept of gender and I voice concern about how to characterize the perspectives we share as women. Finally, I consider some theoretical and political limitations of utilizing gender as an analytical category.

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“…The New York Female Moral Reform Society was a group, set up by Christian women in the mid‐nineteenth century, whose aims were to tackle the problem of urban prostitution, to close the city's brothels, and to confront the double standard and the male sexual license it condoned. In one respect, the campaign of these bourgeois women can be considered orthodox in that it conformed to the ideal of female behavior prescribed by the dominant male ideologies of evangelical Protestantism and the Cult of True Womanhood (Smith‐Rosenberg 1986, 40). However, there was an ambivalence about the reforming zeal of these women which dislocated the stereotype of devout, obedient and modest femininity.…”

Section: Exclusion Of Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, by challenging the male double standard, women assumed what were regarded at the time as the more material attributes and powers of men. The Society argued that organization, knowledge and determination should replace feminine dependence, docility and silence (Smith‐Rosenberg 1986, 45). This aggressive championing of the rights of other women by women over men had the effect of subverting the distinction between public and private and the implied opposition between male and female.…”

Section: Exclusion Of Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

The Foucauldian Body and the Exclusion of Experience

McNay¹

1991

Hypatia

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This paper considers the advantages of incorporating Foucault's anti‐essentialist theory of the body into feminist explanations of women's oppression. There are also problems in that Foucault neglects to examine the gendered character of the body and reproduces a sexism endemic in “gender neutral” social theory. The Foucauldian body is essentially passive resulting in a limited account of identity and agency. This conflicts with an aim of feminism: to rediscover and revalue the experiences of women.

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Writing History: Language, Class, and Gender

Cited by 36 publications

References 2 publications

Rhetorical and Historical Inquiry in the Feminist Reconstitution of Knowledge

Rhetorical and Historical Inquiry in the Feminist Reconstitution of Knowledge

Applying the Concept of Gender: Unsettled Questions

The Foucauldian Body and the Exclusion of Experience

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