Limits of Knowledge: Generating Pragmatist Feminist Cases for Situated Knowing

203 Pages·2015·0.93 MB·English

by  Nancy Arden McHugh

THE LIMITS OF KNOWLEDGE

The Limits of Knowledge
Generating Pragmatist Feminist Cases
for Situated Knowing
Nancy Arden McHugh
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2015 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic,
electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production, Diane Ganeles
Marketing, Kate R. Seburyamo
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McHugh, Nancy Arden.
The limits of knowledge : generating pragmatist feminist cases for situated
knowing / Nancy Arden McHugh.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-5781-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4384-
5782-6 (e-book) 1. Science—Social aspects. 2. Social medicine. 3. Public
health administration. 4. Feminism. 5. Knowledge, Theory of. I. Title.
HM545.M34 2015
303.48'3—dc23
2014041451

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Patrick Braham,
Arden McHugh-Braham,
and Arden McHugh,
who make the good things in life
even better.

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
ONE Introduction: Knowing (in) This place 1
TWO The Career Woman’s Disease: Endometriosis
and Experimental Inquiry 15
THREE Grounding Knowledge Through the Mothers
Committee of Bayview Hunters Point 39
FOUR Transactionally Situated Frameworks, Gold
Standards, and Silent Epidemics 59
FIVE The Needs of Living: Agent Orange in the
Central Highlands of Viet Nam 81
SIX Rooted in a Community 111
SEVEN Where We Should Begin and End 137
Notes 143
References 171
Index 187
vii

Acknowledgments
I want to thank the people in my life who help me to live bet-
ter and think better. There are lots of crossovers between these
groups and I know that I have left people out who should be
included.
Two groups of people have particularly helped with the
progress of this book. The first is the feminist philosophers,
scientists, and social scientists in the Association for Feminist
Epistemology, Metaphysics, Methodology, and Science Studies
(FEMMSS) and of the National Endowment of the Humani-
ties Summer Seminar in Feminist Epistemology, organized by
Nancy Tuana and Shannon Sullivan. They were invaluable for
the success of this project. Most of the chapters in this book
were presented in some form at FEMMSS and many of the ideas
were initiated at the NEH Summer Seminar in Feminist Episte-
mology. Thank you especially to Heidi Grasswick, Carla Fehr,
Phyllis Rooney, Cate Hundleby, Gaile Pohlhaus, Marianne
Janack, Sharon Crasnow, and Lorraine Code. I also particularly
appreciate Miriam Solomon who has provided numerous years
of encouragement and support.
The second group of people are my colleagues and friends
in the Friday happy hour writing group, Dar Brooks Hed-
strom, Tammy Proctor, Carmiele Wilkerson, and Molly Wood.
They read numerous drafts of multiple chapters. Deadlines,
ix