Feminist Approaches to and Applications of Grounded Normative Theory

Abstract

Political and legal theorists have long-debated where normative principles or frameworks come from. These conventional approaches have turned to the interpretation of canonical theoretical texts, to the elucidation of the mores and values of particular political communities, or to reasoning that aspires to impartiality and universality. This panel will discuss an approach to normative theorizing, one that engages with the conceptions, insights, and practical experiences of members of groups that are actively struggling against perceived injustices. Theorists come to grounded normative theory from a number of avenues including extending the normative commitments of critical or feminists theory to empirically informed normative theory. Feminist do not as much turn TO grounded normative theory as grounded normative theory comes FROM feminist inquiry. The panelists explore feminist approaches to grounded normative theorizing, methodological approaches and substantive possibilities. By actively engaging with those who are marginalized and oppressed, researchers can come to better understand their predicaments and learn from the practices and knowledge they have developed while actively responding to injustices. In doing so, researchers can de-familiarize and critique more established normative principles and frameworks, including those that dominate their own societies or academic disciplines. Doing so may be particularly important in our current times of great political transformation, when canonical texts and communitarian ethics have become less – or perniciously more – authoritative. Panelists will explore challenges that arise from this engaged approach and its methodologies. Do political theorists need new forms of training, or new partnerships with other academic disciplines? What happens to key principles in many theories of justice, such as impartiality, universality, or timelessness? What forms of responsibility does the researcher assume through these engagements? Does it change the forms of knowledge that theorists produce, the standards of evaluation, or the modes of communicating them? What does it mean for “theory” itself?

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