Under Western Eyes Feminist Scholarship and Colonial...

In her essay, â€Å"Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses,† Chandra Talpade Mohanty explores the simplified construction of the â€Å"third-world woman† in hegemonic feminist discourses. In contrast, in her essay â€Å"US Third-World Feminism: The Theory and Method of Oppositional Consciousness in the Postmodern World,† Chela Sandoval specifically analyzes â€Å"US third-world feminism† and how it is the model for not only oppositional political activity, but also consciousness in the United States and how this has not been recognized by hegemonic â€Å"western† feminist discourses (). While Mohanty and Sandoval are analyzing and critiquing gender and gender politics, Mohanty is specifically focused on the simplified portrayal in†¦show more content†¦The first assumption argues that â€Å"western† feminist discourses emphasize that all women are bound together by a shared oppression and are powerless (53-54 ). Mohanty systemically explores this theory through an in depth analysis of five categories in which women of the third world are traditionally presented as homogenous victims by â€Å"western† feminist. The first two categories, women as victims of male violence and women as universal dependents, arguably offer the most straightforward deconstruction of the gendered body of knowledge that is power. Women, especially women of the third world, are all seen as victims of male violence and control (54). All women are defined as powerless, and all men are defined as powerful (55). Similarly, all women are defined as powerless dependents in the second category. Mohanty argues, â€Å"this is because descriptive gender differences are transformed into the divisions between men and women† (55). This division possesses a privileged position as the explanation for the oppression of women (56). Therefore, women are seen as a powerless group no matter what the historical or cultu ral situation because they are deemed so prior to any analysis (56). Similarly to Mohanty, Sandoval attempts to deconstruct the gendered body of knowledge that is power through critique. Her argument is similar to Mohanty’s, she is trying to deconstruct the notion of who has power and who is powerless. She doesShow MoreRelatedThe, Under Western Eyes : Feminist Scholarship And Colonial Discourses1355 Words   |  6 Pagesthird world countries because they do not have all the resources that we have in this country. In Chandra T. Mohantys’ article, â€Å"Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses,† we see how Third World Women are viewed by Western Women. She argues that women from third world countries are no different from western women; the only difference is that western women have an advantage with stronger economies. In â€Å"Can the Subaltern Speak?† by Gayatri C. 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