Call for Initial Abstracts
Making the Case: Feminist and Critical Race Theorists Investigate Case Studies
Editors: Heidi Grasswick and Nancy McHugh
Volume to be published with SUNY Press
Over
the past twenty-five years feminist and critical race theorists working
in epistemology and philosophy of science and medicine have often
employed case studies and extended case examples to make arguments about
the efficacy of particular epistemic approaches, to illustrate such
epistemic phenomena as the construction of ignorance and the gendered
and racialized structure of the sciences and medicine, and to take up
issues of epistemic justice and epistemic democracy. Yet in spite of the
growing body of literature in this area, there has not yet been a
volume that 1) provides critical assessments of the effectiveness of
case-study approaches for feminist and critical race theorists or 2)
provides examples of the pluralism of the approaches in this area. This
volume seeks to offer a collection of new work in case study analysis
informed by philosophers working in feminist and critical race theory.
We
invite initial abstract submissions of 500-750 words that address the
use of case studies in epistemology and philosophy of science and
medicine, particularly as their use pertains to the goals of feminist
and critical race theorists. Submissions may focus on theoretical and
methodological issues concerning case studies and/or engage particular
case studies directly, focusing on the development of new and
significant case studies that further understandings of social justice
issues that are of interest to feminists and critical race theorists.
Among the questions that could be considered are: What kind of
conclusions can adequately be drawn from case studies? Are there
epistemic dangers of working with case studies? Is case-study analysis
especially useful for illustrating the dynamics of social injustice and
if so, why? What pressing social justice issues might be most adequately
addressed through particular case-study analyses? How has the
historical use of case studies developed feminist and critical race
theorists’ understanding of knowledge production? What are some of the
different ways in which case-study analysis has been developed and can
be developed by feminist and critical race theorists? How do case-study
approaches help to recognize the epistemic resources are generated by
marginalized communities? Can new case-study analyses demonstrate an
even broader array of epistemic benefits of case-engaged methodology
than what has been illustrated thus far? We welcome work from feminist
and critical race theorists that develops new case studies in
epistemology and philosophy of science and medicine, as well as more
theoretical approaches that critically reflect upon the process of using
cases.
Initial abstracts of 500-750 words due: August 1, 2015
Acceptance notification: early September 2015
Full papers of 6500-8000 words due: January 31, 2016
For questions, please contact:
Nancy Arden McHugh or Heidi Grasswick
Professor of Philosophy Professor of Philosophy
Wittenberg University Middlebury College
Springfield, OH 45501 Middlebury, VT 05753
