In Search of Human Dignity (eBook)

Book Cover 1
Contents 5
Introduction 6
I. In search of human dignity: Essays in theology 8
II. In search of human dignity: Essays in ethics 10
III. In search of human dignity: Essays in education 12
Acknowledgements 13
Essays in theology 15
1. “i found god in myself & i loved her, i loved her fiercely”
The quote 16
Mary Grey 17
Michelle Cliff 17
Most surprising: demarcation, her and fiercely 18
Alice Walker: The Color Purple 19
Katie Cannon – and “the color purple” 21
A few reflections 23
Until last week 23
Bibliography 24
2. “Do not love anybody more than you love yourself.” On ethics, oppression, and resistance 25
“Only when we have faces” 25
Under oppression 27
To embrace one’s own value – and that of others 32
Finally 34
Bibliography 34
3. Women, agency and motherhood 35
Mary of the Magnificat – a Sri Lankan perspective 36
Faith from within life itself – A South African perspective 39
Giving meaning to birthing and motherhood – a Swedish perspective 42
Concluding discussion 45
Bibliography 47
4. Integrity and justice at stake 48
Confessing and embodying unity – A feminist theological perspective 48
At risk: The integrity of the Christian faith 49
A question 49
Situations of women worldwide 51
Women and the Church 54
The Belhar confession and the challenge today – to confess and embody unity 55
The comment and a response 56
To change 57
Whose integrity at stake? 58
5. When will white, European men stop being normal? 59
On feminism and theology, via oppression and experience, to situated knowledges and a discussion on who is a subject 59
Introduction 59
On oppression 59
On experience 60
On the human being 61
From patriarchy to justice in spite of differences? 62
Theories of patriarchy 62
Young’s five faces of oppression 63
Situated knowledges and the strategy of the impossible conversation 65
Who can be “empirical referents” for knowledge? 65
“Situated knowledges” 65
Epistemological privilege? 67
Is responsible knowing possible? 68
New subjects – new human beings? 69
Bodily integrity and moral self-confidence 69
Critique of Descartes – and a relational self 70
Theological relevance 71
Women – theological subjects 71
White European men – different in their own eyes? 71
Is feminist theology partial? 72
Knowledge and differences, group egoism, and the impossible conversation 73
At last 73
Essays in ethics 74
6. “Only when we have faces” – ethics in a post-colonial epoch 75
Three cultural contexts – and a conversation on four concepts 76
Methodological concerns 77
Paradigm conflicts and “rhetorical space” 77
Situated knowledges 78
Communicative ethics 78
Feminist ethics 79
Theological ethics/Ethics 80
Results 82
In a proper sense… 82
…and in this article… 82
Mary C. Grey – relationships as the locus of ethics 83
Chung Hyun Kyung – epistemology from a broken body 85
Katie G. Cannon an African-American theologian 90
Concluding reflections 92
Oppression – differences and similarities 92
Values: context and universality 94
Different presuppositions and equal rights – justice 94
Finally 95
Bibliography 96
7. Women’s human rights in Sweden – a feminist ethical perspective 98
One question – and another 98
I. Two stories from literature 100
Mother Augusta and her relatives 100
Catrine – a young Swedish woman 101
Women and men in Sweden – facts and figures 102
II. Harald Ofstad – a moral philosopher 105
Why Ofstad? 105
Contempt for Weakness 106
“We and the others” 107
Humanity and solidarity between human beings 108
Reflections on Ofstad’s argument and observations 108
Us and them 109
Strength and weakness 109
Violence 109
Admiration of power – and neglect of humanity 109
Men and women 110
III. How to build a human rights culture? 110
One humanity – no conceptual cleavage 111
Self-actualisation and self-determination 112
Women – as a political collective 112
Violence against women 113
Critical studies 114
Directions for a thorough human rights culture 114
Bibliography 115
8. Knowledge, empathy and responsible encounters 117
A conflict, epistemology and empathy 117
Carol Gilligan and Lawrence Kohlberg 119
Gilligan’s criticism of Kohlberg’s theory 120
After Gilligan 122
Theory about knowledge 124
“Responsible knowing” 124
Care 125
Empathy 126
Empathy in danger 127
Interpretive, ambiguous empathy 128
Epilogue: entering into dialogue 128
Bibliography 129
9. Sweden – a rainbow nation? Human dignity, differences and rights 131
Human dignity and oppression 132
Equality – differences and history 135
Intersectionality in practice 141
On dignity – at last 142
Bibliography 144
10. Human dignity and human rights. A gender and Swedish perspective 147
Introduction 147
An outline 148
Human rights and human dignity 149
Human rights 149
Human dignity 151
Human dignity – in a plurality of languages 152
Human dignity – a Swedish/Norwegian contribution I: Harald Ofstad 153
Human dignity – a Swedish contribution II: discoveries of three women theologians 154
Concluding discussion 157
Bibliography 159
Essays in education 161
11. Epistemology from a broken body. Vulnerability, sexuality and education 162
The background 162
“Epistemology from a broken body” 163
Suffering 164
Epistemology and feminist theory 165
Women’s ways of knowing 166
A phenomenology of rape? 168
Curricula and teaching materials – preliminary findings 169
Responsible knowing and vulnerability 170
Questions for further study 171
Bibliography 173
12. Human dignity and gender equality: Reflections on concepts and ideals of human rights and democracy in Sweden and South Africa 175
Introduction 175
A few methodological concerns 175
The academic exchange programme 176
The academic context 176
Ethics – a discipline with clashing paradigms 176
A democratic feminism 178
Interdisciplinary approach and global situatedness 179
Human rights and democracy in a Swedish context 179
Human rights and democracy in general 179
A symposium in 2002 180
Other arenas – Sweden 182
Human rights and democracy in a South African context 183
Human rights and democracy in general 183
The symposium in 2002 – South African voices 185
Other arenas – South Africa 186
Human rights and democracy – concepts and ideals 188
Human rights 188
Democracy 189
Moral formation and ethical theory 190
Gender justice and human dignity 191
Concepts and ideals 192
Bibliography 192
13. Values in Swedish education – struggles and tensions in directions around democracy, gender and diversity 196
Introduction 196
A value foundation 197
The value foundation in the curricula 198
Democracy 199
Schools – supposed providers of societal values 200
Five values and their background 200
Ethnocentrism? 202
“Women and men” vs. “gender” 203
A methodological interlude 204
Interpretations of the value foundation in Swedish curricula 205
Tomas Englund – democracy as deliberative conversations 205
Elisabeth Gerle – diversity and gender 208
Christer Hedin and Pirjo Lahdenperä – value foundations and societies 210
Zackari and Modigh – a social and humanitarian democracy 213
Discussion 216
Democracy, gender and diversity 216
Critical voices in 2006 218
Values and rights – the good life and justice 219
Conclusion 220
Bibliography 221
14. The universal and the particular in the work of Seyla Benhabib – and education in a globalised world 223
Ethics – a presupposition and a challenge 223
Two questions and the purpose 224
A. The particular, the universal, interactive universalism and enlarged thinking 225
Interactive universalism 225
Enlarged thinking 226
The particular and the universal 226
B. Cosmopolitanism in the moral philosophy of Benhabib 227
Cosmopolitanism – a background 227
Cosmopolitanism – towards a 21st century version 228
The interactive universalism, cosmopolitanism and the others 229
The German case 229
The young French women 230
Grounding of norms in a post-metaphysical era 230
Conclusion – the particular and the universal in Benhabib’s discourse ethics 231
C. Implications for the development of global perspectives in education 231
Educational systems and an interactive universalism 231
Democratic iterations 232
Sustainable future 232
Conclusion 232
Bibliography 233
15. Human dignity and education – concluding discussion 235
A search for human dignity 235
Essays in theology 235
Essays in ethics 237
Essays in education 238
a) Contemporary religious education (RE) 239
b) Sexuality and values education 241
c) Global citizens – dignity and rights 242
d) A sustainable future and education 243
e) From values to virtues in education 244
f) Human dignity today 245
What is in our hands 247
Bibliography 248
Appendix 1. English summary of Karin Sporre: Först när vi får ansikten. Ett flerkulturellt samtal omfeminism, etik och teologi. Atlas Akademi, 1999 250
Task 250
Main questions: 251
Research in the field and method 251
Feminism, feminist theory and differences 252
Concepts and ethical theoretic framework 253
Surviving the blight – a womanist ethics 255
Knowledge from a broken body – Asian perspectives 258
Relationships as the site for ethics – A European voice 260
A conversation that continues 263
Postscript 265