Accommodating multiple perspectives on reality within western academic settings : some postmodern considerations

Contained within the parameters of postmodern thought, particularly feminist critical perspectives on western epistemology, this thesis proceeds from the following arguments: that knowledge is political: that it possesses a reflexive and dialectical nature and that it is based upon interpretations of reality which are in potential, indeterminate in range. Within these boundaries, knowledge is viewed as a phenomenon subject to influence from social power structures. And western culture is observed to breed situations of epistemological inequality where knowers may become unjustly privileged or oppressed.Focusing on arguments expounded by Lorraine Code, Patti Lather and Catherine Walsh, this thesis aims to explore how western culture may be observed to impose on consciousness and thereby lead to restriction of interpretive outcomes. Following this line of reasoning, the goal of this thesis is to consider how applications in deconstructionism may be used to emancipate the position of the oppressed knower