Abstract
In this concluding chapter, Calvin addresses why FESF matters, and what it might offer for a larger feminist politics and practice. This conclusion argues that epistemic exclusion inflicts harm on the body politic, and that it excludes certain members of society from full participation in society. The questions that feminist philosophers have asked of epistemology and the questions that feminist science fiction writers ask point to a new form of identity politics no longer predicated on the individual Subject, but rather, on an epistemic community.
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Notes
- 1.
Though Jane Duran and some feminist epistemologists do.
- 2.
For example, consider the life and work of Christine de Pizan (1364–1430) and zher The Book of the City of Ladies (1405), Veronica Franco (1564–1591) and zher Terze Rime (1575) and “Familiar Letters” (1580), and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651–1695) and zher Response to Sor Filotea (1691). All three women note the gender inequalities in their own society, and all three women argue, not just in defense of themselves, but for all women. However, their arguments are not rights-based arguments.
- 3.
The two authors of Who Can Speak? utilized an unusual strategy in writing the book. The book was written by a number of “contributors” (who are not named) and Roof and Wiegman serve as editors, and yet, only their names appear in the book.
- 4.
In their book, Roof and Wiegman also note that the epistemological claims of individuals who occupy privileged positions (in terms of race, gender, class, sexuality, etc.) can be harmful or damaging when they speak for marginalized or disenfranchised groups or individuals. In writing this book on feminist epistemology and science fiction, I have tried to remain aware of my privileged position vis-à-vis the subject matter; however, as Roof and Wiegman argue, subject position always matters in making truth claims.
- 5.
See, for example, Joanna Russ’s interview with Larry McCaffrey (among others), and Ursula K. Le Guin’s essay “Is Gender Necessary?”
- 6.
In Language and Sexuality: Theory, Research and Politics (2003), Deborah Cameron and Don Kulick discuss Judith Butler’s move away from “the epistemological subject” and toward subjectivity that is the “effect (rather than the origin) of practices of signification” (137). Butler’s argument shares a number of claims with Hekman.
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Calvin, R. (2016). Chapter Six Beginning(s): Feminist Epistemological Science Fiction. In: Feminist Science Fiction and Feminist Epistemology. Studies in Global Science Fiction. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32470-8_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32470-8_7
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