Journal of Chinese Philosophy 49/3: 240-253., 2022
I propose a conception of Confucian feminism faithful to the original vision of the Confucian mas... more I propose a conception of Confucian feminism faithful to the original vision of the Confucian masters centered on the moral ideal of junzi. Although junzi has traditionally been conceived as male-gendered, my proposal for Confucian feminism is predicated on reclaiming junzi as a gender-transcending moral ideal. It follows in the footsteps of two premodern Korean female Confucian scholars, Yun-ji-dang and Chŏng-il-dang, who deserve to be considered first Confucian feminists. Recognizing their Confucian feminism's limitations reflecting their historical socio-political circumstances, I explore necessary conditions for reimagining the ideal of junzi as a feminist ideal in contemporary Confucian East Asia.
This paper advances and defends the overlapping consensus view of human rights as a political con... more This paper advances and defends the overlapping consensus view of human rights as a political conception of human rights most consistent with John Rawls’s normative account of a realistic utopia at the international level. Although some clues exist in The Law of Peoples to support this view, an innovative reconstruction is called for to complete the picture. This paper aims to offer such a reconstruction, which is predicated on two premises: first, the parties to the international original positions, which include decent nonliberal peoples, are reasonable and worthy of liberal toleration; and, second, the protection of human rights proper is a module that can fit into all acceptable comprehensive doctrines at the international level, including societal comprehensive doctrines in decent nonliberal peoples. The first premise has been subjected to vehement liberal critiques and left for dead, and the second premise has not been taken seriously and relatively neglected. This paper defends these premises in turn to justify the overlapping consensus view of human rights as constitutive of Rawls’s normative account of a realistic utopia at the international level.
In an era of unprecedented numbers of migrants from the global south to the global north, nationa... more In an era of unprecedented numbers of migrants from the global south to the global north, nationalism has become synonymous with liberal states’ ethnocentric, xenophobic, and racist immigration policies. The Trump administration’s treatment of Central American refugees has been taken as a prime example. By focusing on liberal cultural nationalism, this paper demonstrates that these prevailing perceptions about nationalism are unfounded. Although liberal cultural nationalism has been accused of endorsing restrictive immigration policies, the degree to which liberal cultural nationalism’s immigration policies are restrictive is context-dependent; under certain circumstances, liberal nationalism may call for relaxing immigration policies to admit certain types of immigrants by invoking the idea of national responsibility. Consequently, liberal cultural nationalism offers one of the strongest liberal arguments for admitting certain kinds of migrants from the global south. The Central American refugee crisis at the U.S. southern border is analyzed as a case study to illustrate this.
Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 42/3: 1-27, 2021
This paper examines the complex relation between collective self-determination and gender justice... more This paper examines the complex relation between collective self-determination and gender justice in indigenous communities by focusing on the case of indigenous women in Canada. Liberal theorists have argued that conferring on indigenous peoples the collective right to self-determination would result in the oppression of their women. The situation of indigenous women in Canada seems to provide evidence for this; under the indigenous self-government regime granted by the Indian Act, indigenous women have suffered from rampant discriminations in their own communities, including exclusion from tribal/band membership privileges when they “out-marry.” Some indigenous women, however, strongly support the collective right to indigenous self-determination even at the expense of women’s individual rights. I call these indigenous women’s position traditionalist. Through careful examinations of relevant facts and philosophical analyses of key concepts, this paper demonstrates that the traditionalist indigenous women’s position is a philosophically defensible position regarding the relation between indigenous collective self-determination and gender justice.
Keywords Canadian Indigenous Women; Gender Justice; Indigenous Self-Determination; Indigenous Women; International Legal Human Rights System; Liberal Individualism; Women’s Rights are Human Rights
<Abstract>The Women’s Rights as Human Rights movement is a particularly noteworthy poster child o... more <Abstract>The Women’s Rights as Human Rights movement is a particularly noteworthy poster child of the influential international human rights system. It is predicated on the liberal individualist conception of human rights and gender equality. With the landmark 1979 UN adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Women’s Rights as Human Rights movement has been empowered to pressure ratifying non-Western states to transform their nonliberal cultures by incorporating its liberal individualist principles in their domestic legal systems. Despite the risk that this may impose liberal individualism of the West on the nonliberal Global South, most human rights activists from the Global South have enthusiastically embraced the Women’s Rights as Human Rights movement. Western feminists have taken this as evidence that the Women’s Rights as Human Rights movement exemplifies transnational feminist solidarity. Against this widespread view, this article highlights the danger that the Women’s Rights as Human Rights movement may replicate the imperialist stance of the colonial era and erode culturally diverse modes of gender justice in the Global South.
Is Confucian democracy philosophically justifiable? In recent decades, prominent Confucian theori... more Is Confucian democracy philosophically justifiable? In recent decades, prominent Confucian theorists have answered this question in the negative, arguing that the political system that is consistent with Confucianism is political meritocracy or elite rule. This position presupposes an antithetical relation between democracy and Confucianism. In order to counter such a position, this paper proposes a philosophically justifiable normative conception of Confucian democracy. By carefully examining democracy theories of Jean Jacques Rousseau and Carl Schmitt in the civic humanist republican tradition and Confucian political philosophy in the Mencian tradition, this paper demonstrates that the substantive value of democracy as popular sovereignty is a fundamental idea undergirding and safeguarding the ideal Confucian politics. Confucian Democracy as Popular Sovereignty? 1 Ranjoo Seodu Herr
Pieranna Garavaso (ed.), Bloomsbury Companion to Analytic Feminism, 2018
Feminism is frequently associated with nationalism and transnationalism, as terms such as “natio... more Feminism is frequently associated with nationalism and transnationalism, as terms such as “nationalist feminism” and “transnational feminism” exemplify. Feminism’s relationship to nationalism, however, has been predominantly antagonistic, whereas feminism’s more recent relationship to transnationalism has been unequivocally amicable. This paper attempts to provide some conceptual and normative clarity about the relationship among diverse conceptualizations of feminism, nationalism, and transnationalism by mapping their conceptual links, disjunctures, and intersections. The ultimate aim of the paper is to propose a plausible way to reconceptualize their relationship in a way that promotes the feminist goal of gender justice across cultures.
Please see "Confucian Family for a Feminist Future" (2012) below
The Confucian family, not only in its historical manifestations but also in the imagination of th... more The Confucian family, not only in its historical manifestations but also in the imagination of the Confucian founders, was the locus of misogynist norms and practices that have subjugated women in varying degrees. Therefore, advancing women’s well-being and equality in East Asia may seem to require radically transforming the Confucian family to approximate alternative ideal conceptions of the family in the West. This presentation opposes such a stance by arguing that Western conceptions of the family may be neither plausible nor feasible in traditionally Confucian societies. In order to support my position, influential contemporary Western ideal conceptions of the family from the justice perspective and care ethics will be carefully examined.
Mainstream conceptions of autonomy have been surreptitiously gender-specific and masculinist. Fem... more Mainstream conceptions of autonomy have been surreptitiously gender-specific and masculinist. Feminist philosophers have reclaimed autonomy as a feminist value, while retaining its core ideal as self-government, by reconceptualizing it as “relational autonomy.” This article examines whether feminist theories of relational autonomy can adequately illuminate the agency of Islamist women who defend their nonliberal religious values and practices and assiduously attempt to enact them in their daily lives. I focus on two notable feminist theories of relational autonomy advanced by Marina Oshana and Andrea Westlund and apply them to the case of Women’s Mosque Movement participants in Egypt. I argue that feminist conceptions of relational autonomy, centered around the ideal of self-government, cannot elucidate the agency of Women’s Mosque Movement participants whose normative ideal involves perfecting their moral capacity.
In this “Musings” contribution, I compare the connotations of “Third World women” and “women of c... more In this “Musings” contribution, I compare the connotations of “Third World women” and “women of color” and argue that “Third World women” captures something important for feminist purposes that the other does not. I propose to use “Third World” as a term reappropriated by members of previously or currently colonized nations to signify their oppositionality and resistance to not only military-politico-economic, but also cultural, dimensions of Western domination. By identifying oneself as a “Third World woman,” then, one may indicate her resolve to oppose, resist and overcome disadvantages she and others have sustained due to not only their perceived race, but also their affiliation with formerly or currently colonized, underdeveloped nations whose non-Western cultures have been perceived as “backward” by those in the West.
Editors' Introduction to a special issue of Hypatia on "Contested Terrains: Women of Color, Third... more Editors' Introduction to a special issue of Hypatia on "Contested Terrains: Women of Color, Third World Women, Feminisms, and Geopolitics"
This article considers whether the international legal human rights system founded on liberal ind... more This article considers whether the international legal human rights system founded on liberal individualism, as endorsed by liberal theorists, can function as a fair universal legal regime. This question is examined in relation to the collective right to self-determination demanded by indigenous peoples, who are paradigmatic decent nonliberal peoples. Indigenous peoples’ collective right to self-determination has been internationally recognized in the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was adopted by the United Nations in 2007. This historic event may seem to exemplify the international legal human rights system’s ability to function as a truly global legal regime applicable cross-culturally to all well-ordered societies, whether liberal or nonliberal. The article argues, however, that the collective right to self-determination advocated by indigenous peoples for the sake of cultural integrity is inconsistent with the international legal human rights system founded on liberal individualism. By showing the plausibility of indigenous peoples’ defense of their cultural integrity, this article suggests that the international legal human rights system ought to be reconceptualized to reflect a genuine international consensus on human rights among all well-ordered societies if it is to function as a just mechanism for global governance.
In recent years, the notion of “tiger mother” has been popularized since Amy Chua’s publication o... more In recent years, the notion of “tiger mother” has been popularized since Amy Chua’s publication of her memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (2011). This notion is allegedly representative of “Chinese” mothering that produces “stereotypically successful kids” (ibid., p.3). No wonder, the characteristics of the tiger mother revolve around strict disciplining and pressuring of children to excel academically based on her assumption that children “owe everything” to her and that she knows “what is best for [the] children” (ibid., p.53). Chinese mothering is based roughly on Confucian mothering—a traditional mothering style originating from Confucian East Asia. Given the intense debate that has been generated by this popular book, it seems timely to theorize about what Confucian mothering involves, which has been largely neglected by Confucians themselves or contemporary feminists. This chapter attempts to start a conversation on this very important topic and explores the idea of Confucian mothering as follows: In sections II and III, I examine exemplary mothers in Confucian East Asia of the past in order to derive a preliminary idea of Confucian mothering. In order to consider whether Confucian mothering is conducive to promoting the Confucian ideal, I first identify the Confucian ideal in section IV by providing a plausible conception of Confucianism as a universal philosophical system. In section V, I elaborate on how Confucian mothering in its goal and style has been conducive to enabling male children to realize the Confucian ideal. Yet these historical instances of Confucian mothering cannot be incorporated into the universal Confucian philosophical system because Confucian mothers themselves were prevented from realizing the Confucian ideal. I therefore argue in section VI for a reconceptualization of Confucian mothering consistent with Confucianism as a universal philosophical system. Reconceptualized in this way, I show in section VII the ways in which Confucian mothering is distinct from tiger mothering and argue that tiger mothering is morally unjustifiable. Finally, I conclude by examining why Confucian mothering is relevant even for contemporary American parents in the 21st century.
This paper aims to refute the “incompatibility thesis” that nationalism is incompatible with tran... more This paper aims to refute the “incompatibility thesis” that nationalism is incompatible with transnational feminist solidarity, as it fosters exclusionary practices, xenophobia, and racism among feminists with conflicting nationalist aspirations. I examine the plausibility of the incompatibility thesis by focusing on the controversy regarding just reparation for Second World War “comfort women,” which is still unresolved. The Korean Council at the center of this controversy, which advocates the rights of Korean former comfort women, has been criticized for its strident nationalism and held responsible for the stalemate. Consequently, the case of comfort women has been thought to exemplify the incompatibility thesis. I argue against this common feminist perception in three ways: First, those who subscribe to the incompatibility thesis have misinterpreted facts surrounding the issue; second, the Korean Council’s nationalism is a version of “polycentric nationalism,” which avoids the problems of essentialist nationalism at the center of feminist concerns; and, third, transnational feminist solidarity is predicated on the idea of oppressed/marginalized women’s epistemic privilege and enjoins that feminists confer respect on oppressed/marginalized women’s epistemic privilege. To the extent that oppressed/marginalized women’s voices are expressed in nationalist terms, I argue that feminists committed to transnational feminist solidarity must accommodate their nationalism.
Third World and transnational feminisms have emerged in opposition to white second-wave feminists... more Third World and transnational feminisms have emerged in opposition to white second-wave feminists’ single-pronged analyses of gender oppression that elided Third World women’s multiple and complex oppressions in their various social locations. Consequently, these feminisms share two “Third World feminist” mandates: First, feminist analyses of Third World women’s oppression and resistance should be historically situated; and second, Third World women’s agency and voices should be respected. Despite these shared mandates, they have diverged in their proper domains of investigation, with transnational feminism concentrating on the transnational level and Third World feminism focusing on local and national contexts. Further, their respective positions regarding nation-states and nationalism have been antithetical, as leading transnational feminists have categorically rejected nation-states and nationalism as detrimental to feminism. In recent decades, transnational feminism has become the dominant feminist position on Third World women, overshadowing Third World feminism, and the dismissal of nation-states and nationalism as irrelevant to feminism has become fashionable. Against this current trend, this article argues for the relevance of nation-states and nationalism for transnational feminism and the urgency of reclaiming Third World feminism.
In Melissa Nobles and Jun-Hyeok Kwak (Eds.), Historical Reconciliation and Inherited Responsibility, 2013
Abstract: The issue of “comfort women,” who were forced to serve as sex slaves for the Japanese I... more Abstract: The issue of “comfort women,” who were forced to serve as sex slaves for the Japanese Imperial Army during the imperial expansion of the Japanese Empire into the Asian continent in the 1930s and 40s, has been severely contested since its reemergence in early 1990s. The Korean Council, the feminist advocacy group for Korean former comfort women, has emphasized the national responsibility of the current Japanese government to correct the wrongs committed by its direct predecessor, the Japanese Empire, and demanded an official apology as well as proper legal reparation toward former comfort women. Feminists, both Korean and international, and the Japanese government have criticized the Korean Council for its unapologetically nationalist stance, arguing that Korean nationalism damages the international feminist coalition on this issue. I argue that not only is the Korean Council’s nationalist position compatible with feminism, but also that the issue of comfort women is an ideal case in which feminism and nationalism can be reconciled.
The Confucian family, not only in its historical manifestations but also in the imagination of th... more The Confucian family, not only in its historical manifestations but also in the imagination of the Confucian founders, was the locus of misogynist norms and practices that have subjugated women to varying degrees. Therefore, advancing women's well-being and equality in East Asia may seem to require radically transforming the Confucian family to approximate alternative ideal conceptions of the family in the West. My article argues against such a stance by carefully examining not only different conceptions of the Confucian family, but also influential contemporary Western ideal conceptions of the family from the justice perspective and care ethics. This article shows (1) that Western conceptions of the family may be neither plausible nor feasible in traditionally Confucian societies and (2) that the Confucian family, once reconstructed in line with Confucianism's core ideas and values, can be conducive to a feminist future in East Asia that is uniquely Confucian.
*Please check out my more recent article, "Confucian democracy as popular sovereignty" (forthcomi... more *Please check out my more recent article, "Confucian democracy as popular sovereignty" (forthcoming 2019)
Abstract: “Confucian democracy” is considered oxymoronic because Confucianism is viewed as lacking an idea of equality among persons necessary for democracy. Against this widespread opinion, this article argues that Confucianism presupposes a uniquely Confucian idea of equality and that therefore a Confucian conception of democracy distinct from liberal democracy is not only conceptually possible but also morally justifiable. This article engages philosophical traditions of East and West by, first, reconstructing the prevailing position based on Joshua Cohen’s political liberalism; second, articulating a plausible conception of Confucian democracy predicated on Confucian conceptions of persons and political participation from the Mencian tradition; and third, exposing the implausibility of the prevailing position in light of the articulation.
Journal of Chinese Philosophy 49/3: 240-253., 2022
I propose a conception of Confucian feminism faithful to the original vision of the Confucian mas... more I propose a conception of Confucian feminism faithful to the original vision of the Confucian masters centered on the moral ideal of junzi. Although junzi has traditionally been conceived as male-gendered, my proposal for Confucian feminism is predicated on reclaiming junzi as a gender-transcending moral ideal. It follows in the footsteps of two premodern Korean female Confucian scholars, Yun-ji-dang and Chŏng-il-dang, who deserve to be considered first Confucian feminists. Recognizing their Confucian feminism's limitations reflecting their historical socio-political circumstances, I explore necessary conditions for reimagining the ideal of junzi as a feminist ideal in contemporary Confucian East Asia.
This paper advances and defends the overlapping consensus view of human rights as a political con... more This paper advances and defends the overlapping consensus view of human rights as a political conception of human rights most consistent with John Rawls’s normative account of a realistic utopia at the international level. Although some clues exist in The Law of Peoples to support this view, an innovative reconstruction is called for to complete the picture. This paper aims to offer such a reconstruction, which is predicated on two premises: first, the parties to the international original positions, which include decent nonliberal peoples, are reasonable and worthy of liberal toleration; and, second, the protection of human rights proper is a module that can fit into all acceptable comprehensive doctrines at the international level, including societal comprehensive doctrines in decent nonliberal peoples. The first premise has been subjected to vehement liberal critiques and left for dead, and the second premise has not been taken seriously and relatively neglected. This paper defends these premises in turn to justify the overlapping consensus view of human rights as constitutive of Rawls’s normative account of a realistic utopia at the international level.
In an era of unprecedented numbers of migrants from the global south to the global north, nationa... more In an era of unprecedented numbers of migrants from the global south to the global north, nationalism has become synonymous with liberal states’ ethnocentric, xenophobic, and racist immigration policies. The Trump administration’s treatment of Central American refugees has been taken as a prime example. By focusing on liberal cultural nationalism, this paper demonstrates that these prevailing perceptions about nationalism are unfounded. Although liberal cultural nationalism has been accused of endorsing restrictive immigration policies, the degree to which liberal cultural nationalism’s immigration policies are restrictive is context-dependent; under certain circumstances, liberal nationalism may call for relaxing immigration policies to admit certain types of immigrants by invoking the idea of national responsibility. Consequently, liberal cultural nationalism offers one of the strongest liberal arguments for admitting certain kinds of migrants from the global south. The Central American refugee crisis at the U.S. southern border is analyzed as a case study to illustrate this.
Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 42/3: 1-27, 2021
This paper examines the complex relation between collective self-determination and gender justice... more This paper examines the complex relation between collective self-determination and gender justice in indigenous communities by focusing on the case of indigenous women in Canada. Liberal theorists have argued that conferring on indigenous peoples the collective right to self-determination would result in the oppression of their women. The situation of indigenous women in Canada seems to provide evidence for this; under the indigenous self-government regime granted by the Indian Act, indigenous women have suffered from rampant discriminations in their own communities, including exclusion from tribal/band membership privileges when they “out-marry.” Some indigenous women, however, strongly support the collective right to indigenous self-determination even at the expense of women’s individual rights. I call these indigenous women’s position traditionalist. Through careful examinations of relevant facts and philosophical analyses of key concepts, this paper demonstrates that the traditionalist indigenous women’s position is a philosophically defensible position regarding the relation between indigenous collective self-determination and gender justice.
Keywords Canadian Indigenous Women; Gender Justice; Indigenous Self-Determination; Indigenous Women; International Legal Human Rights System; Liberal Individualism; Women’s Rights are Human Rights
<Abstract>The Women’s Rights as Human Rights movement is a particularly noteworthy poster child o... more <Abstract>The Women’s Rights as Human Rights movement is a particularly noteworthy poster child of the influential international human rights system. It is predicated on the liberal individualist conception of human rights and gender equality. With the landmark 1979 UN adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Women’s Rights as Human Rights movement has been empowered to pressure ratifying non-Western states to transform their nonliberal cultures by incorporating its liberal individualist principles in their domestic legal systems. Despite the risk that this may impose liberal individualism of the West on the nonliberal Global South, most human rights activists from the Global South have enthusiastically embraced the Women’s Rights as Human Rights movement. Western feminists have taken this as evidence that the Women’s Rights as Human Rights movement exemplifies transnational feminist solidarity. Against this widespread view, this article highlights the danger that the Women’s Rights as Human Rights movement may replicate the imperialist stance of the colonial era and erode culturally diverse modes of gender justice in the Global South.
Is Confucian democracy philosophically justifiable? In recent decades, prominent Confucian theori... more Is Confucian democracy philosophically justifiable? In recent decades, prominent Confucian theorists have answered this question in the negative, arguing that the political system that is consistent with Confucianism is political meritocracy or elite rule. This position presupposes an antithetical relation between democracy and Confucianism. In order to counter such a position, this paper proposes a philosophically justifiable normative conception of Confucian democracy. By carefully examining democracy theories of Jean Jacques Rousseau and Carl Schmitt in the civic humanist republican tradition and Confucian political philosophy in the Mencian tradition, this paper demonstrates that the substantive value of democracy as popular sovereignty is a fundamental idea undergirding and safeguarding the ideal Confucian politics. Confucian Democracy as Popular Sovereignty? 1 Ranjoo Seodu Herr
Pieranna Garavaso (ed.), Bloomsbury Companion to Analytic Feminism, 2018
Feminism is frequently associated with nationalism and transnationalism, as terms such as “natio... more Feminism is frequently associated with nationalism and transnationalism, as terms such as “nationalist feminism” and “transnational feminism” exemplify. Feminism’s relationship to nationalism, however, has been predominantly antagonistic, whereas feminism’s more recent relationship to transnationalism has been unequivocally amicable. This paper attempts to provide some conceptual and normative clarity about the relationship among diverse conceptualizations of feminism, nationalism, and transnationalism by mapping their conceptual links, disjunctures, and intersections. The ultimate aim of the paper is to propose a plausible way to reconceptualize their relationship in a way that promotes the feminist goal of gender justice across cultures.
Please see "Confucian Family for a Feminist Future" (2012) below
The Confucian family, not only in its historical manifestations but also in the imagination of th... more The Confucian family, not only in its historical manifestations but also in the imagination of the Confucian founders, was the locus of misogynist norms and practices that have subjugated women in varying degrees. Therefore, advancing women’s well-being and equality in East Asia may seem to require radically transforming the Confucian family to approximate alternative ideal conceptions of the family in the West. This presentation opposes such a stance by arguing that Western conceptions of the family may be neither plausible nor feasible in traditionally Confucian societies. In order to support my position, influential contemporary Western ideal conceptions of the family from the justice perspective and care ethics will be carefully examined.
Mainstream conceptions of autonomy have been surreptitiously gender-specific and masculinist. Fem... more Mainstream conceptions of autonomy have been surreptitiously gender-specific and masculinist. Feminist philosophers have reclaimed autonomy as a feminist value, while retaining its core ideal as self-government, by reconceptualizing it as “relational autonomy.” This article examines whether feminist theories of relational autonomy can adequately illuminate the agency of Islamist women who defend their nonliberal religious values and practices and assiduously attempt to enact them in their daily lives. I focus on two notable feminist theories of relational autonomy advanced by Marina Oshana and Andrea Westlund and apply them to the case of Women’s Mosque Movement participants in Egypt. I argue that feminist conceptions of relational autonomy, centered around the ideal of self-government, cannot elucidate the agency of Women’s Mosque Movement participants whose normative ideal involves perfecting their moral capacity.
In this “Musings” contribution, I compare the connotations of “Third World women” and “women of c... more In this “Musings” contribution, I compare the connotations of “Third World women” and “women of color” and argue that “Third World women” captures something important for feminist purposes that the other does not. I propose to use “Third World” as a term reappropriated by members of previously or currently colonized nations to signify their oppositionality and resistance to not only military-politico-economic, but also cultural, dimensions of Western domination. By identifying oneself as a “Third World woman,” then, one may indicate her resolve to oppose, resist and overcome disadvantages she and others have sustained due to not only their perceived race, but also their affiliation with formerly or currently colonized, underdeveloped nations whose non-Western cultures have been perceived as “backward” by those in the West.
Editors' Introduction to a special issue of Hypatia on "Contested Terrains: Women of Color, Third... more Editors' Introduction to a special issue of Hypatia on "Contested Terrains: Women of Color, Third World Women, Feminisms, and Geopolitics"
This article considers whether the international legal human rights system founded on liberal ind... more This article considers whether the international legal human rights system founded on liberal individualism, as endorsed by liberal theorists, can function as a fair universal legal regime. This question is examined in relation to the collective right to self-determination demanded by indigenous peoples, who are paradigmatic decent nonliberal peoples. Indigenous peoples’ collective right to self-determination has been internationally recognized in the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was adopted by the United Nations in 2007. This historic event may seem to exemplify the international legal human rights system’s ability to function as a truly global legal regime applicable cross-culturally to all well-ordered societies, whether liberal or nonliberal. The article argues, however, that the collective right to self-determination advocated by indigenous peoples for the sake of cultural integrity is inconsistent with the international legal human rights system founded on liberal individualism. By showing the plausibility of indigenous peoples’ defense of their cultural integrity, this article suggests that the international legal human rights system ought to be reconceptualized to reflect a genuine international consensus on human rights among all well-ordered societies if it is to function as a just mechanism for global governance.
In recent years, the notion of “tiger mother” has been popularized since Amy Chua’s publication o... more In recent years, the notion of “tiger mother” has been popularized since Amy Chua’s publication of her memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (2011). This notion is allegedly representative of “Chinese” mothering that produces “stereotypically successful kids” (ibid., p.3). No wonder, the characteristics of the tiger mother revolve around strict disciplining and pressuring of children to excel academically based on her assumption that children “owe everything” to her and that she knows “what is best for [the] children” (ibid., p.53). Chinese mothering is based roughly on Confucian mothering—a traditional mothering style originating from Confucian East Asia. Given the intense debate that has been generated by this popular book, it seems timely to theorize about what Confucian mothering involves, which has been largely neglected by Confucians themselves or contemporary feminists. This chapter attempts to start a conversation on this very important topic and explores the idea of Confucian mothering as follows: In sections II and III, I examine exemplary mothers in Confucian East Asia of the past in order to derive a preliminary idea of Confucian mothering. In order to consider whether Confucian mothering is conducive to promoting the Confucian ideal, I first identify the Confucian ideal in section IV by providing a plausible conception of Confucianism as a universal philosophical system. In section V, I elaborate on how Confucian mothering in its goal and style has been conducive to enabling male children to realize the Confucian ideal. Yet these historical instances of Confucian mothering cannot be incorporated into the universal Confucian philosophical system because Confucian mothers themselves were prevented from realizing the Confucian ideal. I therefore argue in section VI for a reconceptualization of Confucian mothering consistent with Confucianism as a universal philosophical system. Reconceptualized in this way, I show in section VII the ways in which Confucian mothering is distinct from tiger mothering and argue that tiger mothering is morally unjustifiable. Finally, I conclude by examining why Confucian mothering is relevant even for contemporary American parents in the 21st century.
This paper aims to refute the “incompatibility thesis” that nationalism is incompatible with tran... more This paper aims to refute the “incompatibility thesis” that nationalism is incompatible with transnational feminist solidarity, as it fosters exclusionary practices, xenophobia, and racism among feminists with conflicting nationalist aspirations. I examine the plausibility of the incompatibility thesis by focusing on the controversy regarding just reparation for Second World War “comfort women,” which is still unresolved. The Korean Council at the center of this controversy, which advocates the rights of Korean former comfort women, has been criticized for its strident nationalism and held responsible for the stalemate. Consequently, the case of comfort women has been thought to exemplify the incompatibility thesis. I argue against this common feminist perception in three ways: First, those who subscribe to the incompatibility thesis have misinterpreted facts surrounding the issue; second, the Korean Council’s nationalism is a version of “polycentric nationalism,” which avoids the problems of essentialist nationalism at the center of feminist concerns; and, third, transnational feminist solidarity is predicated on the idea of oppressed/marginalized women’s epistemic privilege and enjoins that feminists confer respect on oppressed/marginalized women’s epistemic privilege. To the extent that oppressed/marginalized women’s voices are expressed in nationalist terms, I argue that feminists committed to transnational feminist solidarity must accommodate their nationalism.
Third World and transnational feminisms have emerged in opposition to white second-wave feminists... more Third World and transnational feminisms have emerged in opposition to white second-wave feminists’ single-pronged analyses of gender oppression that elided Third World women’s multiple and complex oppressions in their various social locations. Consequently, these feminisms share two “Third World feminist” mandates: First, feminist analyses of Third World women’s oppression and resistance should be historically situated; and second, Third World women’s agency and voices should be respected. Despite these shared mandates, they have diverged in their proper domains of investigation, with transnational feminism concentrating on the transnational level and Third World feminism focusing on local and national contexts. Further, their respective positions regarding nation-states and nationalism have been antithetical, as leading transnational feminists have categorically rejected nation-states and nationalism as detrimental to feminism. In recent decades, transnational feminism has become the dominant feminist position on Third World women, overshadowing Third World feminism, and the dismissal of nation-states and nationalism as irrelevant to feminism has become fashionable. Against this current trend, this article argues for the relevance of nation-states and nationalism for transnational feminism and the urgency of reclaiming Third World feminism.
In Melissa Nobles and Jun-Hyeok Kwak (Eds.), Historical Reconciliation and Inherited Responsibility, 2013
Abstract: The issue of “comfort women,” who were forced to serve as sex slaves for the Japanese I... more Abstract: The issue of “comfort women,” who were forced to serve as sex slaves for the Japanese Imperial Army during the imperial expansion of the Japanese Empire into the Asian continent in the 1930s and 40s, has been severely contested since its reemergence in early 1990s. The Korean Council, the feminist advocacy group for Korean former comfort women, has emphasized the national responsibility of the current Japanese government to correct the wrongs committed by its direct predecessor, the Japanese Empire, and demanded an official apology as well as proper legal reparation toward former comfort women. Feminists, both Korean and international, and the Japanese government have criticized the Korean Council for its unapologetically nationalist stance, arguing that Korean nationalism damages the international feminist coalition on this issue. I argue that not only is the Korean Council’s nationalist position compatible with feminism, but also that the issue of comfort women is an ideal case in which feminism and nationalism can be reconciled.
The Confucian family, not only in its historical manifestations but also in the imagination of th... more The Confucian family, not only in its historical manifestations but also in the imagination of the Confucian founders, was the locus of misogynist norms and practices that have subjugated women to varying degrees. Therefore, advancing women's well-being and equality in East Asia may seem to require radically transforming the Confucian family to approximate alternative ideal conceptions of the family in the West. My article argues against such a stance by carefully examining not only different conceptions of the Confucian family, but also influential contemporary Western ideal conceptions of the family from the justice perspective and care ethics. This article shows (1) that Western conceptions of the family may be neither plausible nor feasible in traditionally Confucian societies and (2) that the Confucian family, once reconstructed in line with Confucianism's core ideas and values, can be conducive to a feminist future in East Asia that is uniquely Confucian.
*Please check out my more recent article, "Confucian democracy as popular sovereignty" (forthcomi... more *Please check out my more recent article, "Confucian democracy as popular sovereignty" (forthcoming 2019)
Abstract: “Confucian democracy” is considered oxymoronic because Confucianism is viewed as lacking an idea of equality among persons necessary for democracy. Against this widespread opinion, this article argues that Confucianism presupposes a uniquely Confucian idea of equality and that therefore a Confucian conception of democracy distinct from liberal democracy is not only conceptually possible but also morally justifiable. This article engages philosophical traditions of East and West by, first, reconstructing the prevailing position based on Joshua Cohen’s political liberalism; second, articulating a plausible conception of Confucian democracy predicated on Confucian conceptions of persons and political participation from the Mencian tradition; and third, exposing the implausibility of the prevailing position in light of the articulation.
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Papers by Ranjoo S Herr
Keywords
Canadian Indigenous Women; Gender Justice; Indigenous Self-Determination; Indigenous Women; International Legal Human Rights System; Liberal Individualism; Women’s Rights are Human Rights
This chapter attempts to start a conversation on this very important topic and explores the idea of Confucian mothering as follows: In sections II and III, I examine exemplary mothers in Confucian East Asia of the past in order to derive a preliminary idea of Confucian mothering. In order to consider whether Confucian mothering is conducive to promoting the Confucian ideal, I first identify the Confucian ideal in section IV by providing a plausible conception of Confucianism as a universal philosophical system. In section V, I elaborate on how Confucian mothering in its goal and style has been conducive to enabling male children to realize the Confucian ideal. Yet these historical instances of Confucian mothering cannot be incorporated into the universal Confucian philosophical system because Confucian mothers themselves were prevented from realizing the Confucian ideal. I therefore argue in section VI for a reconceptualization of Confucian mothering consistent with Confucianism as a universal philosophical system. Reconceptualized in this way, I show in section VII the ways in which Confucian mothering is distinct from tiger mothering and argue that tiger mothering is morally unjustifiable. Finally, I conclude by examining why Confucian mothering is relevant even for contemporary American parents in the 21st century.
Abstract: “Confucian democracy” is considered oxymoronic because Confucianism is viewed as lacking an idea of equality among persons necessary for democracy. Against this widespread opinion, this article argues that Confucianism presupposes a uniquely Confucian idea of equality and that therefore a Confucian conception of democracy distinct from liberal democracy is not only conceptually possible but also morally justifiable. This article engages philosophical traditions of East and West by, first, reconstructing the prevailing position based on Joshua Cohen’s political liberalism; second, articulating a plausible conception of Confucian democracy predicated on Confucian conceptions of persons and political participation from the Mencian tradition; and third, exposing the implausibility of the prevailing position in light of the articulation.
Keywords
Canadian Indigenous Women; Gender Justice; Indigenous Self-Determination; Indigenous Women; International Legal Human Rights System; Liberal Individualism; Women’s Rights are Human Rights
This chapter attempts to start a conversation on this very important topic and explores the idea of Confucian mothering as follows: In sections II and III, I examine exemplary mothers in Confucian East Asia of the past in order to derive a preliminary idea of Confucian mothering. In order to consider whether Confucian mothering is conducive to promoting the Confucian ideal, I first identify the Confucian ideal in section IV by providing a plausible conception of Confucianism as a universal philosophical system. In section V, I elaborate on how Confucian mothering in its goal and style has been conducive to enabling male children to realize the Confucian ideal. Yet these historical instances of Confucian mothering cannot be incorporated into the universal Confucian philosophical system because Confucian mothers themselves were prevented from realizing the Confucian ideal. I therefore argue in section VI for a reconceptualization of Confucian mothering consistent with Confucianism as a universal philosophical system. Reconceptualized in this way, I show in section VII the ways in which Confucian mothering is distinct from tiger mothering and argue that tiger mothering is morally unjustifiable. Finally, I conclude by examining why Confucian mothering is relevant even for contemporary American parents in the 21st century.
Abstract: “Confucian democracy” is considered oxymoronic because Confucianism is viewed as lacking an idea of equality among persons necessary for democracy. Against this widespread opinion, this article argues that Confucianism presupposes a uniquely Confucian idea of equality and that therefore a Confucian conception of democracy distinct from liberal democracy is not only conceptually possible but also morally justifiable. This article engages philosophical traditions of East and West by, first, reconstructing the prevailing position based on Joshua Cohen’s political liberalism; second, articulating a plausible conception of Confucian democracy predicated on Confucian conceptions of persons and political participation from the Mencian tradition; and third, exposing the implausibility of the prevailing position in light of the articulation.