How to Counter a Counterstory (and Keep Those People in Their Place)

On October 27, 2014, Hilde Lindemann presented the John McKendy Memorial Lecture on Narrative at St. Thomas University. The annual lecture, sponsored by the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Narrative (CIRN), is named for John McKendy, PhD, a member of the Sociology Department at St. Thomas University and one of the founding members of CIRN, who died tragically in 2008. Dr. Lindemann’s lecture focused on narrative strategies that people in dominant social positions use to counter a counterstory and keep an oppressive social order in place. A counterstory is “a story that is told for the purpose of resisting a socially shared narrative that purports to justify the oppression of a social group ... The socially shared story—master narrative—enters the tissue of stories that constitute the group’s identity, damaging that identity and so constricting group members’ access to the goods on offer in their society.” In her lecture, she explored some of the difficulties that arise when a counterstory sets out to repair that identity, and why the master narratives are so difficult to uproot. Dr. Lindemann has kindly agreed to have the video of her lecture published in Narrative Works

FEMINISTISCHE BIOETHIK UND EMPFiNGNISVERHUTUNG

Autori razmatraju odnos feminističke teorije prema upotrebi dugotrajnih kontracepcijskih sredstava u okviru socijalne politike te daju analizu korištenja takvih sredstava unutar američkog sustava krivičnog prava i političkih reakcija na određene slučajeve, kao što je, na primjer, trudnoća maloljetnica. U uvodnom djelu posebice raspravljaju o feminizmu kao kritici i feminizmu kao teoriji, dajući pregled različitih feminizama, od "liberalnog" preko "kulturnog" do "pluralističkog feminizma".The authors discuss how feminist theory looks upon the use of longterm contraceptives within the social policy framework, and they also give an analysis of the usage of contraceptives within the American legal system as well as the political reactions to certain cases, as for example, the pregnancy of under-aged young women. In the introductory part, they discuss feminism as a criticism and feminism as a theory, producing therefore a survey of different feminisms, from "liberal", through "cultural" to "pluralist feminism".Die Verfasser untersuchen in ihrer Arbeit das Verhaltnis der Feministischen Theorie zu Langzeitverhatungsmitteln im Rahmen der Sozialpolitik; sie Iiefem eine Analyse der Nutzung dieser Mittel innerhalb des amerikanischen Strafrechtssystems und vor dem Hintergrund politischer Reaktionen auf bestimmte Erscheinungen, zu denen beispielsweise die Schwangerschaft von Minderjahrigen gehort. Der einfUhrendeTeil der Arbeit widmet sich insbesondere dem Feminismus als Kritik einerseits und als Theorie andererseits und gibt einen Oberblick aber die verschiedenen Feminismen, vom \u27liberalen\u27 aber den \u27kulturellen\u27 bis hin zum \u27pluralistischen\u27 Feminismu

Autonomy, Beneficence, and Gezelligheid: Lessons in Moral Theory from the Dutch

Asian Bioethics Review13218-23

Injured identities, narrative repair

I defend the view that a person\u27s identity is injured when a powerful social group views the members of her own, less powerful group as unworthy of full moral respect, and in consequence unjustly prevents her from occupying valuable social roles or entering into desirable relationships that are themselves identity constituting. We may call this harm deprivation of opportunity. Further, a person\u27s identity is injured when she endorses, as a portion of her self-concept, a dominant group\u27s dismissive or exploitative understanding of her group, and in consequence loses or fails to acquire a sense of herself as worthy of full moral respect. We may call this harm infiltrated consciousness. Either injury to the identity constricts the person\u27s ability to exercise her moral agency. I argue that because identities are narratively constituted and narratively injured, they can be narratively repaired. The morally pernicious stories that construct the identity according to the requirements of an abusive power system can be at least partially dislodged and replaced by identity-constituting counterstories that portray group members as fully developed moral agents. I develop the concept of the counterstory: it is a purposive act of moral definition, developed on one\u27s own behalf or on behalf of others. It sets out to resist, to one degree or another, the stories that identify certain groups of people as targets for ill treatment. Its aim is to reidentify such people as competent members of the moral community and so to free their moral agency