Date of Award
4-1995
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Sociology
First Advisor
Dr. Gerald Markle
Second Advisor
Dr. Ronald Kramer
Third Advisor
Dr. Gwen Raaberg
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Open Access
Abstract
New literary forms was used as a method to show that women writers construct notions of objectivity, subjectivity, reflexivity and privilege fundamentally different than do males who are writing new literary forms. A narrative new literary form construct was employed and epistemological issues were explored in a self-referentially reflexive way.
The history and epistemological assumptions of new literary forms was explored in order to provide a context for the study. The feminist critique examined the use of autobiography in sociological writing, looked at women writers in the area of science studies, and explored essentialist and non-essentialist feminist epistemologies.
It was found that male new literary forms writers do indeed employ masculine, positivistic epistemological constructions, though they claim the contrary. The author offers an alternative feminist recipe to androcentric epistemological constructions of subjects, objects and reflexivity.
Recommended Citation
Boyers, Jennifer Sue, "Gophers, Ghosts, and Electronic Dreams: A Feminist Critique of New Literary Forms" (1995). Masters Theses. 4219.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/4219