Women must both rebuild subordinated identity and shed master identity.
Evidence
However, critical reconstruction involves much more than the affirmation of women’s difference. In the web of oppression, the combined identity in which colonised and coloniser identities are interwoven is the normal case. To the extent that women are not only the colonised in relation to gender, but are also themselves the colonisers (for example, in relation to other races and cultures, classes and species), critical reconstruction of identity normally involves not only affirming and rebuilding subordinated identities, but also reconstructing master identities. Thus western women must also learn to throw off the master identity embedded in the western construction of the human. — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 263
Categorization
- XREF: Bridges directly to eco-justice pedagogy and the settler-colonial critique across the polyad: white western women are simultaneously colonised (by gender) and colonisers (vis-a-vis indigenous peoples, nature). — connects to: Reworking gender needs both transcendence and affirmation of identity. — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 255; Reversal that revalues the subordinated identity without restructuring it stays trapped in dualism — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 244; Without destruction of prior form, identity cannot sustain itself. — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 245
- SEED: The ‘web of oppression’ double position of western women environmentalists — affirming subordinated identity while unmasking their own master identity — as a course discussion anchor.
Broader Connections
- Reworking gender needs both transcendence and affirmation of identity.
#corroborates(0.85) — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 255 - Reversal that revalues the subordinated identity without restructuring it stays trapped in dualism
#expands(0.82) — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 244 - Without destruction of prior form, identity cannot sustain itself.
#corroborates(0.78) — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 245