Reading Across Borders

In light of postcolonial and feminist critiques of 'experience' and 'identity', how can feminists engage stories of marginalized peoples' experience in the development of feminist theories and modes of activism that take account of the diversity of women's situations? How can feminists use the powerful tools of storytelling in ways that do not essentialize or objectify marginalized women? Shari Stone-Mediatore brings together the theoretical perspectives of Hannah Arendt and postcolonial theory to develop a 'post-positivist' account of narrative which can form the basis for a progressive feminist politics.

'A superior manuscript that treats, with originality and great subtlety, dilemmas that are at the heart of debates in contemporary feminist and critical thought. Stone-Mediatore shows how Women's Studies needs to take seriously the critiques of 'narrative' and 'experience' that have emerged from cultural studies but she also demonstrates that feminists need not be devastated by them. This is a book that many scholars will be grateful for having read.' - Lisa Disch, University of Minnesota

'In this fascinating and important work, Shari Stone-Mediatore sets out to theorize the intellectual value and historical role of stories and storytelling. The result is a rich and compelling book that asks us to rethink the border between story and truth, narrative and knowledge. In the course of developing a transnational feminist theory of marginal experience narratives, Stone-Mediatore has made a valuable and wonderfully readable contribution to the existing body of work on the politics of knowledge.' - Paula Rothenberg, author of Invisible Privilege: A Memoir about Race, Class, and Gender

'This book treats dilemmas that rest at the heart of debates in contemporary feminist and critical thought with originality and subtlety...' - Lisa Disch, University of Minnesota and author of Hannah Arendt and the Limits of Philosophy

'Stone-Mediatore offers an important re-affirmation of experience-rooted narratives as the critical basis for practical struggles and liberatory politics.' - Linda Martín Alcoff, Professor of Philosophy at Syracuse University

SHARI STONE-MEDIATORE is a Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Ohio Wesleyan University.