Beyond the Detached Observer: Positionality and Knowledge in Feminist Methodology

Abstract

This theoretical article argues that feminist methodology should be understood not only as a critique of the detached observer, but also as a framework for examining how knowledge becomes legitimate, accountable, and limited. Its central contribution is to reread classic texts and debates in feminist methodology as a reorientation from representation to legitimacy, and from detached objectivity to accountable interpretation. Through a theoretical and interpretive reading of Women Writing Culture, feminist standpoint theory, Donna Haraway’s situated knowledges, and Chris Weedon’s poststructuralist feminism, this article shows that feminist methodology does not simply reject objectivity or replace it with women’s experience. Instead, it understands feminist knowledge as situated, partial, reflexive, and shaped by unequal power relations. In doing so, this article seeks to contribute to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies by reframing feminist methodology as a practice of accountable interpretation rather than as either a rejection of objectivity or a direct appeal to women’s experience.