He-Yin Zhen, Oyewumi, and Geographies of Anti-Universalism

George’s essay addresses the difference that distinctions of history and geography make to the development of He-Yin Zhen’s, Oyeronke Oyewumi’s, and Kimberle Crenshaw’s theorizations of gender difference. Despite their various entrees into the question of gender difference and the different points that each settles upon, He-Yin’s, Oyewumi’s, and Crenshaw’s writings reflect a shared anti-universalism that forms a critique of Western majoritarian feminist theory. The works of these scholars and others working from a position of marginalized knowledges underscore the violence of universalism in feminist theory and the ongoing urgency of literal and epistemological translation to the field of feminist studies.