Nicole wrote:
"What is it that some people think that academic study always overrides
someone's first hand experience?"
and I think that about sums up my beliefs about feminism. I think
that what ecofeminism brings up and forces "feminism" and feminists as
a whole to face is that we have hidden ourselves up in that nice old
ivory tower. We hang out there, look down on the world and say that
we know better. We know the "history," we know the "facts." But the
history we know is written by the conquerers, the literate, the white,
the governing, the "ups," the men, the ones who have the leisure and
the inclination to write about things, and the facts are the ones that
they choose.
Ecofeminism shows us that we, the outsiders, may know many more
"facts," we may be more "educated" in an academic sense, but that
philosophy needs to be built from the ground up. We listen to the
words and songs and look at the arts and the work of those who are
"downs," and we build our philosophy out of what they say, and we
check with them to be certain that we have used their work and their
words fairly and justly and rightly. Those who have lived experience
as oppressed individuals, as "third world" individuals, have knowledge
that we in the priviledged, overdeveloped west can never imagine. We
can only hope to learn from them about their world, and through their
experiences maybe understand our worlds a little better.
Heather
==
"Yes.
I said it's fine before
But I don't think so no more
I've changed my mind. I take it back.
Erase and rewind."
-The Cardigans
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