PS 2A03 (2010) Lecture 12: Western hegemony and ontology

8/8/2019 PS 2A03 (2010) Lecture 12: Western hegemony and ontology

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Monday November 22 2010Lecture 12: Western hegemony and ontology

PS 2A03: Conflict Transformation

Dr Colin Salter, Centre for Peace Studies, McMaster University

Critical IssuesWestern hegemony and ontology

1Monday, 22 November 2010


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Heterosexuality is not normal, its just common.

Dorothy Parker



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Outline

Epistemology and

Ontology

Epistemologies of

Ignorance



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The study of how weknow Study of the nature ofbeing and existence

Epistemology & Ontology



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The epistemology of ignorance is an examination of the

complex phenomenon of ignorance, which has as itsaim identifying different forms of ignorance, examininghow they are produced and sustained, and what rolesthey play in knowledge practices.

Shannon Sullivan and Nancy Tuana (2007)



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Especially in the case of racial oppression, a lack of

knowledge or an unlearning of what was previouslyknown often is actively produced for purposes ofdomination and exploitation.




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women of cover

I mischievously asked whether she had done segmentson the women of Guatemala, Ireland, Palestine, orBosnia when the show covered wars in those regions...

Lila Abu-Lughod (2002)



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...tracing what is not known and the politics of suchignorance should be a key element of epistemological

and social and political analyses, for it has the potentialto reveal the role of power in what is the constructionof what is known and provide a lens for the politicalvalues at work in our knowledge practices.




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Rabbit Proof Fence

Phillip Noyce (2002)

Doris PilkingtonGarimara (1996)

Many challenging themes

and issues portrayed



10/2010Monday, 22 November 2010


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Rabbit Proof Fence

Phillip Noyce (2002)

Doris PilkingtonGarimara (1996)

Many challenging themes

and issues portrayed



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Can we only free Afghan women to be like us or might

we have to recognize that even after liberation fromthe Taliban, they might want different things than wewould want for them?

Lila Abu-Lughod (2002)



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BabaKiueria

Don Featherstone (1986)

Satirical 30 minute film

1987 United Nations

Media Peace Prize



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Burnum Burnum

January 26, 1998

Burnum BurnumDeclaration



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I, Burnum Burnum of the Wurundjeri Tribe, do herebytake possession of England on behalf of the AboriginalCrown of Australia.

Burnum Burnum (1988)



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Summary

Epistemologies of

Ignorance

Western ontology and

hegemony



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Citations & further reading

Lila Abu-Lughod (2002) Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological

Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others,American Anthropologist, Vol. 104,

No. 3: pp. 783-790.

Sullivan, N. & Tuana, N. (eds.) 2007. Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance, Albany: StateUniversity of New York Press.

Amanda Hess (2010) Rubber Barons: Why Doesnt Your Boyfriend Know Jack About

Contraception? The Sexist/Washington City Paper, March 4.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/sexist/2010/03/04/rubber-barons-why-

doesnt-your-boyfriend-know-jack-about-contraception/

John Ramsland (2004) Bringing up Harry Penrith: Injustice and Becoming Burnum

Burnum The formative years of a Child of the Stolen Generation, Education

Research and Perspectives, Vol. 31, No. 4: 94-106



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Citations & further reading

Elvi Whittaker (1994) Public Discourse on Sacredness: The Transfer of Ayers Rock

to Aboriginal Ownership, American Ethnologist, Vol. 21, No. 2 (May, 1994), pp. 310-334



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Image sources

Dave Boldingers Cartoons & Stuff

http://www.dbaldinger.com/opinion_cartoons/second_page/dear_world.html

ames Garvin Ellis. Rodney Powell (standing) talks with other sit-in participants at Walgreens drugstore in Nashville,Tennessee, Friday March 25, 1960 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville_sit-ins

Marc Riboud.Jan Rose Kasmir, protest against the Vietnam War outside the Pentagon, Arlington County, Virginia, Saturday,21 October 21, 1967 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Rose_Kasmir

Shaney Komulainen. Canadian soldier Patrick Cloutier and Saskatchewan Native Brad Laroque alias 'Freddy Kruger'come face to face in a tense standoff at the Kahnesatake reserve in Oka, Quebec, Saturday September 1, 1990 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oka_Crisis

Babakiueria [DVD cover] http://shop.abc.net.au/browse/product.asp?productid=738460

Peter Zageris (1989) Portrait of Burnum Burnum, National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-

an9846585



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Video sources

Don Featherstone (1986) BabaKiueria, ABC TV

The Sexist presents: Men explaining birth control (March 3 2010) http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=NtB_4SRLhlU


PS 2A03 (2010) Lecture 12: Western hegemony and ontology

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