Uma Narayan

Bio: Uma Narayan is an academic researcher from Vassar College. The author has contributed to research in topics: Feminist philosophy & Social movement. The author has an hindex of 14, co-authored 25 publications receiving 2174 citations.

Dislocating Cultures: Identities, Traditions, and Third World Feminism

Abstract: Dislocating Cultures takes aim at the related notions of nation, identity, and tradition to show how Western and Third World scholars have misrepresented Third World cultures and feminist agendas. Drawing attention to the political forces that have spawned, shaped, and perpetuated these misrepresentations since colonial times, Uma Narayan inspects the underlying problems which "culture" poses for the respect of difference and cross-cultural understanding.Questioning the problematic roles assigned to Third World subjects within multiculturalism, Narayan examines ways in which the flow of information across national contexts affects our understanding of issues. Dislocating Cultures contributes a philosophical perspective on areas of ongoing interest such as nationalism, post-colonial studies, and the cultural politics of debates over tradition and "westernization" in Third World contexts.

Essence of Culture and a Sense of History: A Feminist Critique of Cultural Essentialism

Abstract: Drawing parallels between gender essentialism and cultural essentialism, I point to some common features of essentialist pictures of culture. 1 argue that cultural essentialism is detrimental to feminist agendas and suggest strategies for its avoidance, Contending that some forms of cultural relativism buy into essentialist notions of culture, I argue that postcolonial feminists need to be cautious about essentialist contrasts between “Western” and “Third World” cultures.

Working Together Across Difference: Some Considerations on Emotions and Political Practice

Abstract: Uma Narayan attempts to clarify what the feminist notion of the ‘epistemic privilege of the oppressed’ does and does not imply. She argues that the fact that oppressed ‘insiders’ have epistemic privilege regarding their oppression creates problems in dialogue with and coalitionary politics involving ‘outsiders’ who do not share the oppression, since the latter fail to come to terms with the epistemic privilege of the insiders. She concretely analyzes different ways in which the emotions of insiders can be inadvertantly hurt by outsiders and suggests ways in which such problems can be minimized.

Decentering the center : philosophy for a multicultural, postcolonial, and feminist world

Abstract: Introduction. Border Crossings Uma Narayan and Sandra Harding Globalising Feminist Ethics Alison M. Jaggar Feminism, Women's Human Rights, and Cultural Differences Susan Moller Okin Cultural Alterity: Cross-Cultural Communication and Feminist Theory in North-South Contexts Ofelia Schutte How to Think Globally: Stretching the Limits of Imagination Lorraine Code Essence of Culture and a Sense of History: A Feminist Critique of Cultural Essentialism Uma Narayan "It's Not Philosophy" Andrea Nye Chandra Mohanty and the Revaluing of "Experience" Shari Stone-Mediatore Sitios y Lenguas: Chicanas Theorise Feminisms A'da Hurtado What Should White People Do? Linda Mart'n Alcoff Locating Traitorous Identities: Toward a View of Privilege-Cognisant White Character Alison Bailey Multiculturalism as a Cognitive Virtue of Scientific Practice Ann E. Cudd It's All in the Family: Intersections of Gender, Race, and Nation Patricia Hill Collins Dualisms, Discourse, and Development Drucilla K. Barker Resisting the Veil of Privilege: Building Bridge Identities as an Ethico-Politics of Global Feminisms Maquiladora Mestizas and a Feminist Border Politics: Revisiting Anzald a Melissa Wright Burnt Offerings to Rationality: A Feminist Reading of the Construction of Indigenous Peoples in Enrique Dussel's Theory of Modernity Lynda Lange: Gender, Development, and Post-Enlightenment Philosophies of Science: Sandra Harding

“Male-Order” Brides: Immigrant Women, Domestic Violence and Immigration Law

Abstract: This essay analyzes why women whose immigration status is dependent on their marriage face higher risks of domestic violence than women who are citizens and explores the factors that collude to prevent acknowledgment of their greater susceptibility to battering. It criticizes elements of current U.S. immigration policy that are detrimental to the welfare of battered immigrant women, and argues for changes that would make immigration policy more sensitive to their plight.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Abstract: Evolutionary psychology is one of many biologically informed approaches to the study of human behavior. Along with cognitive psychologists, evolutionary psychologists propose that much, if not all, of our behavior can be explained by appeal to internal psychological mechanisms. What distinguishes evolutionary psychologists from many cognitive psychologists is the proposal that the relevant internal mechanisms are adaptations—products of natural selection—that helped our ancestors get around the world, survive and reproduce. To understand the central claims of evolutionary psychology we require an understanding of some key concepts in evolutionary biology, cognitive psychology, philosophy of science and philosophy of mind. Philosophers are interested in evolutionary psychology for a number of reasons. For philosophers of science —mostly philosophers of biology—evolutionary psychology provides a critical target. There is a broad consensus among philosophers of science that evolutionary psychology is a deeply flawed enterprise. For philosophers of mind and cognitive science evolutionary psychology has been a source of empirical hypotheses about cognitive architecture and specific components of that architecture. Philosophers of mind are also critical of evolutionary psychology but their criticisms are not as all-encompassing as those presented by philosophers of biology. Evolutionary psychology is also invoked by philosophers interested in moral psychology both as a source of empirical hypotheses and as a critical target.

Tracking Epistemic Violence, Tracking Practices of Silencing

Abstract: Too often, identifying practices of silencing is a seemingly impossible exercise. Here I claim that attempting to give a conceptual reading of the epistemic violence present when silencing occurs can help distinguish the different ways members of oppressed groups are silenced with respect to testimony. I offer an account of epistemic violence as the failure, owing to pernicious ignorance, of hearers to meet the vulnerabilities of speakers in linguistic exchanges. Ultimately, I illustrate that by focusing on the ways in which hearers fail to meet speaker dependency in a linguistic exchange, efforts can be made to demarcate the different types of silencing people face when attempting to testify from oppressed positions in society.

New Materialism: Interviews & Cartographies

Abstract: This book is the first monograph on the theme of “new materialism,” an emerging trend in 21st century thought that has already left its mark in such fields as philosophy, cultural theory, feminism, science studies, and the arts. The first part of the book contains elaborate interviews with some of the most prominent new materialist scholars of today: Rosi Braidotti, Manuel DeLanda, Karen Barad, and Quentin Meillassoux. The second part situates the new materialist tradition in contemporary thought by singling out its transversal methodology, its position on sexual differing, and by developing the ethical and political consequences of new materialism.

Violence Against Immigrant Women The Roles of Culture, Context, and Legal Immigrant Status on Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract: Intimate partner violence against immigrant women is at epidemic proportions, but research has only recently begun to address the concern. A review of the legal, medical, and social science research literature reveals little data, but that which exist demonstrate that immigrant women's cultures, contexts, and legal status (a) increase vulnerability for abuse, (b) are used by batterers to control and abuse immigrant women, and (c) create barriers to women seeking and receiving help. Data also reveal that immigrant culture and context offer resiliency factors through which programs and policy can be used to better serve these populations.