The Politics of Knowledge: Virginia Woolf and the Epistemological Practice of Standpoint and Situatedness

This chapter investigates the intersections of knowledge, politics, and feminist epistemology through Virginia Woolf’s seminal works A Room of One’s Own and Three Guineas. Woolf’s reflections on women, writing, and fiction illustrate the historical exclusion of women from knowledge production, revealing their status as ‘objects’ of knowledge rather than active subjects of intellectual enquiry. The chapter, then, situates Woolf’s feminist critique within a broader geopolitical and sociopolitical context, addressing colonialism, power structures, and the patriarchal underpinnings of ‘universal’ knowledge. Engaging with critical thinkers from poststructuralist and anti-colonial traditions and zooming in on feminist scholars such as Sandra Harding and Donna Haraway, the chapter highlights how standpoint theory and situated knowledges challenge the neutrality of traditional epistemologies. These feminist frameworks underline the entanglement of knowledge with power and advocate a ‘strong objectivity’ accountable to different subject positions. Woolf’s provocative call ‘Think we must!' inspires the ongoing feminist pursuit of truths and methods that resist exclusionary practices. The chapter emphasises the critical potential of feminist epistemologies to transform entrenched power dynamics, positioning knowledge as a dynamic, situated, and collective practice of wor(l)ding.