Patricia Hill Collins, "The Social Construction of Black Feminist Thought"
Reading and Discussion Guide
"A Black Women’s Standpoint"
"The Foundation of Black Feminist Thought"
1. What are two key characteristics of a self-defined Black women’s standpoint on Black women’s oppression ?
2. What are some key reasons that the standpoints of oppressed groups are "discredited and suppressed" according to Hill Collins?
"The Significance of Black Feminist Thought"
3. What notion does Collins adopt from Berger and Luckmann’s sociology of knowledge?
4. What is the significance and role of Black feminist thought?
"The Eurocentric Masculinist Knowledge Validation Process"
5. What assumptions does Collins make about the nature of social thought and the validation of knowledge claims?
6. What are the pressures on Black feminist academics that result?
7. How does Collins characterize epistemological positivism and why is it so problematic for Black feminists? Is her characterization of positivism fair?
"The Contours of an Afrocentric Epistemology"
8. What is Collin’s argument that shared material conditions and experiences can shape an epistemology? Do you agree? What constituents shape an Afrocentric feminist epistemology? How does it reflect a "both/or" orientation?
9. Why does Collins view an Afrocentric feminist epistemology as a point of contact between Afrocentric and feminist epistemologies? What conclusions does she draw from this?
"Concrete Experience as a Criterion of Meaning"
10. What are the two types of knowing Collins describes?
11. What is meant by concrete experience as a criterion for credibility? For developing evidence? For selecting topics for investigation and methods? For meaning?
12. Evaluate the claim that there are different modes of knowing. How does this relate to the claims of someone like Gilligan?
"The Use of Dialogue in Assessing Knowledge Claims"
13. What does Collins mean when she says, "A primary epistemological assumption underlying the use of dialogue in assessing knowledge claims is that connectedness rather than separation is an essential component of the knowledge validation process (7xx)?" What are some examples?
"The Ethic of Caring"
14. What are the three components of an ethic of caring among African-american women according to Collins? How is this related to African-American culture and to women’s experiences? How does Collins tie an ethic of care to epistemology?
"The Ethic of Personal Accountability"
15. Collins argues not only that persons are responsible for their knowledge claims, but also that assessments of an individual’s knowledge claims "simultaneously evaluate an individual’s character, values, and ethics." This goes against traditional Western philosophical theory which says that a person’s argument should be evaluated on its merits independent of the person making the argument. What are the pluses and minuses of the two positions for African American women?
"Epistemology and Black Feminist Thought"
16. Describe the tradition of black feminist thought that Collins surveys? Relate her points to Alice Walker’s essay we read at the beginning of the course.
17. How does Collins describe the positions and dilemmas of Black feminist scholars?
18. Why is the existence of an alternative epistemology more challenging to dominant traditions than alternative knowledge claims?
For our discussion, define and describe the elements of a Black feminist epistemology according to Collins. Evaluate her notion of an alternative epistemology either in terms of its elements or functions. What problems and/or possibilities do you see in her position?
For thought: How does Patricia Hill Collin’s article reflect her position in its form as well as its content?