Experience and practice : gendered knowledge as a challenge to our epistemological paradigm

Feminist epistemology has two aims: to show the androcentrism present in certain paradigmatic accounts of what counts as good knowledge and to provide us with alternatives. In this thesis I will follow that tradition and I will argue for a new epistemological paradigm that avoids androcentrism and revises our concept of knowledge. I will support a theory grounded in feminist standpoint epistemology, but with influences of feminist empiricism and postmodernism

The widening participation agenda: the marginal place of care

This paper is based upon two empirical studies, which identify care-giving responsibilities as a key mediator of mature students' - a target group within the widening participation strategy - experiences of higher education. Employing a feminist lens on care, we identify a disjuncture between how students experience the challenges of negotiating care and study, and the narrow and economistic way care is addressed within higher education policy. We point to the broader recognition of care emerging within New Labour's policies on the reconciliation of paid work and family life and argue that in the context of increasing expectations that learning is for life, care needs to be recognised in a broader form at the interface of both education and employment. Drawing on the notion of a 'political ethics of care', we conclude by identifying elements that should be included in a higher-education 'care culture'

La enseñanza de la teoría de género desde una perspectiva interseccional en un contexto internacional: Una mirada crítica

Este artículo es un intento a responder a la siguiente pregunta, que surge en el contexto del posgrado interseccional que forma parte del MISEAL: ¿Cómo incluir, en un módulo sobre teoría de género, la perspectiva interseccional y qué implica hacerlo en un ámbito internacional de colaboración entre países de América Latina y de la Unión Europea? Para ello, en la primera sección evaluaré la propuesta de Nina Likke que en Feminist Studies. A guide to Intersectional Theory, Methodology and Writting, argumenta que una gran variedad de teorías feministas son intrínsecamente interseccionales y explica, desde esta perspectiva, las teorías de género que normalmente se incluyen en un temario en la materia. En la segunda sección analizaré las críticas que Maria Carbin y Sara Edenheim (2013) han realizado a aquellas teorías sobre la interseccionalidad, en relación con el género, que tienen tendencia al ‘inclusivismo’ (a considerar a una gran parte de las teorías feministas como interseccionales), por ejemplo, la propuesta por Lykke (2010, 2011). En la tercera sección ofreceré una alternativa que intenta incorporar las anteriores y que nos permitirá enseñar teoría de género desde una perspectiva interseccional sin desvirtuar las teorías incluidas en la misma. En la cuarta sección reflexionaré sobre la enseñanza de la interseccionalidad en el contexto internacional del MISEAL, en el que colaboran instituciones del contexto Europeo y Latinoamericano, y exploraré lacontribución que se puede hacer a este campo lectivo y de investigación desde este proyecto

Are chimeras ‘natural’? Disgust, ethics and ‘nature’

In this chapter I argue, against Mary Midgley, that the ‘yuk’ feeling that is elicited by chimeras should not be taken into account when making moral evaluations of the kind of biotechnology that creates them (‘algeny’, according to Midgley). She links the ‘yuk’ feeling with the unnaturalness of chimeras and biotechnology (as algeny). I show how, according to current biological theories regarding evolution,chimeras are not ‘unnatural’. Then I analyse the relationship that Midgley establishes between ‘the yuk’ feeling, moral evaluations and the creation of chimeras and show: that non-moral disgust elicitors influence our moral evaluations, and that the kind of ‘yuk feeling’ that chimeras elicit is likely to be non-moral disgust; that this disgust is the product of well entrenched prejudices; and that disgust resists rationalization and is an example of ‘magical’ thinking. I argue that for these reasons, disgust and the ‘yuk feeling’ should not be taken intoaccount in our moral evaluations regarding the creation of chimeras. Finally I show that it is necessary to distinguish between moral disgust directed towards biotechnology (as algeny) and moral disgust directed towards chimeras as, even if the former could be justified, the later would not be and it could be harmful for chimeras

‘Justicia Epistemologica: Escuchando al Sur’

El concepto de justicia epistemológica ha recibido una gran atención en los últimos diez años en el ámbito de la filosofía anglófona y se ha desarrollado, de manera paralela (aunque utilizando otras denominaciones), en las llamadas “Epistemologías del Sur”. Mientras que en el primero se ha incidido en que, para evitar la injusticia epistemológica, los individuos deben cultivar las virtudes epistemológicas (Fricker, 2007), en el segundo se han analizado los contextos (locales y globales) en los que se produce la injusticia epistemológica y se ha subrayado el carácter colectivo (y político) de la misma (de Sousa Santos, 2008; de Sousa Santos & Meneses, 2014). En esta ponencia se indicará cómo, desde el programa MISEAL, se ha promovido la equidad y la igualdad de oportunidades en el contexto de instituciones de educación superior en América Latina desde una perspectiva interseccional, y se han desarrollado iniciativas que promueven la justicia epistemológica “desde el sur”. Tomado como base el proyecto MISEAL se mostrara cómo el concepto de justicia epistemológica desarrollado en el ámbito anglófono se puede combinar de manera productiva con este tipo de iniciativas, inspiradas en las “Epistemologías del Sur”, para promover la justicia epistemológica en universidades y otros contextos institucionales

Contextualizing rationality: Mature student carers and higher education in England

In England, the Government has implemented policies to increase and diversify participation in higher education (HE). Changes in funding arrangements that shift the burden of paying for education from the state to individuals have also been introduced. To reconcile the contradiction between widening participation and the individualization of the costs of study, HE is being framed as a risk-free and individualized financial investment. Informed by critiques from feminist economics and the philosophy of rational economic man, this paper argues that the government's HE policies are permeated by a narrow concept of reason and presuppose highly individualized, instrumental, and economic actors. Drawing on the findings from two studies conducted at the University of Hull, this paper demonstrates how this understanding of human behavior is incongruent with the experiences of one group of students-mature student carers-whose life choices are informed by their caring responsibilities

Embodied selves

This interdisciplinary collection explores the role the body plays in constituting our sense of self, signalling the interplay between material embodiment, social meaning, and material and social conditions. Collectively the papers draw attention to aspects of embodiment which are not always centre stage in other debates, particularly issues of bodily vulnerability. They make clear, in considering the relation of bodies and selves, that more is at stake than social identity categories; but that what is at stake is, nonetheless, an inter-subjective making of the self. Utilizing theoretical and biographical material, key strands of contemporary thought are brought into conversation: the new materialism, poststructuralism and, importantly, phenomenology. The consequences for an embodied ethics and a corporeal political theory are considered. There is a substantial and accessible introduction placing the papers in the context of contemporary debates. Collectively, the volume marks a major development in philosophical and critical accounts of embodiment

Geoeconomic variations in epidemiology, ventilation management, and outcomes in invasively ventilated intensive care unit patients without acute respiratory distress syndrome: a pooled analysis of four observational studies

Background: Geoeconomic variations in epidemiology, the practice of ventilation, and outcome in invasively ventilated intensive care unit (ICU) patients without acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) remain unexplored. In this analysis we aim to address these gaps using individual patient data of four large observational studies. Methods: In this pooled analysis we harmonised individual patient data from the ERICC, LUNG SAFE, PRoVENT, and PRoVENT-iMiC prospective observational studies, which were conducted from June, 2011, to December, 2018, in 534 ICUs in 54 countries. We used the 2016 World Bank classification to define two geoeconomic regions: middle-income countries (MICs) and high-income countries (HICs). ARDS was defined according to the Berlin criteria. Descriptive statistics were used to compare patients in MICs versus HICs. The primary outcome was the use of low tidal volume ventilation (LTVV) for the first 3 days of mechanical ventilation. Secondary outcomes were key ventilation parameters (tidal volume size, positive end-expiratory pressure, fraction of inspired oxygen, peak pressure, plateau pressure, driving pressure, and respiratory rate), patient characteristics, the risk for and actual development of acute respiratory distress syndrome after the first day of ventilation, duration of ventilation, ICU length of stay, and ICU mortality. Findings: Of the 7608 patients included in the original studies, this analysis included 3852 patients without ARDS, of whom 2345 were from MICs and 1507 were from HICs. Patients in MICs were younger, shorter and with a slightly lower body-mass index, more often had diabetes and active cancer, but less often chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart failure than patients from HICs. Sequential organ failure assessment scores were similar in MICs and HICs. Use of LTVV in MICs and HICs was comparable (42·4% vs 44·2%; absolute difference -1·69 [-9·58 to 6·11] p=0·67; data available in 3174 [82%] of 3852 patients). The median applied positive end expiratory pressure was lower in MICs than in HICs (5 [IQR 5-8] vs 6 [5-8] cm H2O; p=0·0011). ICU mortality was higher in MICs than in HICs (30·5% vs 19·9%; p=0·0004; adjusted effect 16·41% [95% CI 9·52-23·52]; p<0·0001) and was inversely associated with gross domestic product (adjusted odds ratio for a US$10 000 increase per capita 0·80 [95% CI 0·75-0·86]; p<0·0001). Interpretation: Despite similar disease severity and ventilation management, ICU mortality in patients without ARDS is higher in MICs than in HICs, with a strong association with country-level economic status