Ethics and Political Philosophy Group Talk (Serene Khader, Brooklyn College/CUNY)

Serene Khader is associate professor at CUNY where she holds the Jay Newman Chair in Philosophy of Culture.

Professor Khader’s research interests range from political philosophy to normative ethics, feminist philosophy, global justice, and postcolonial theory.

Talk Title

Transnational Feminisms and the Normativity Question

Talk Abstract

I argue that we can move beyond impasses in contemporary debates about the role of normativity in transnational feminist praxis by a) clarifying the normative commitments central to feminism and b) rethinking the role of normative ideals in transnational political practices. These debates concern the purported tension between taking seriously critiques of Western imperialism and retaining feminism’s status as a normative doctrine. Understanding feminism as opposition to sexist oppression untethers feminism from commitments to controversial forms of individualism and antitraditionalism. Understanding transnational feminist praxis as a practice of nonideal justice-enhancement permits a universalist feminist position that is not monist about the endpoint of gender justice or the strategies that should be taken to achieve it.