Feminist International Relations and “Epistemic Blank Spots”: Entrenching Hegemony?

Feminist International Relations (IR) theory and literature critiques the traditional theoretical foundations of international politics, policy, and academia. Viewing the world as a dynamic set of socioeconomic systems and structures, feminists look at the foundations of these institutions, their interactions, and how they impact marginalized groups. Although given that a few of the most prominent feminist International Relations scholars share some of the same socioeconomic and regional roots as their counterparts within mainstream IR, these feminist theorists may have their own sociocultural epistemological issues. Using a critical discourse analysis, this study analyzed if—and how—the background of several leading feminist IR scholars affected their discourse, particularly as it related to their discussion of women outside of the “western” world. This study finds that “western” hegemonic discourse is challenged and entrenched in various ways, most notably in the use of hierarchical dualisms and dichotomies and how they inherently (dis)privilege specific societies