Sandra Harding facts for kids

Sandra G. Harding (born March 29, 1935 – died March 6, 2025) was an American philosopher. She explored how we understand the world, especially in science and society. Her work often looked at ideas from feminist and postcolonial viewpoints. This means she studied how different groups of people, especially women and those from formerly colonized countries, see knowledge and truth.

She led the UCLA Center for the Study of Women from 1996 to 2000. She also helped edit Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, a well-known journal, from 2000 to 2005. Before she passed away, she was a respected professor at the UCLA. She also taught at Michigan State University. In 2013, she received the John Desmond Bernal Prize for her important work.

Her Journey in Education and Work

Sandra Harding started her college studies at Douglass Residential College in 1956. After graduating, she worked for 12 years in different jobs. She was a legal researcher, an editor, and even a fifth-grade math teacher.

She then went back to school to earn her doctorate degree. She studied philosophy at New York University and finished in 1973.

Early Teaching Career

Her first teaching job at a university was at The Allen Center. This was an experimental college in New York. Later, she joined the Department of Philosophy at the University of Delaware. She also worked with their Women's Studies Program. She became a full professor there in 1986.

From 1981 to 1996, she also taught in the Department of Sociology. She led the Women's Studies Program at Delaware for several years.

Work at UCLA and Beyond

In 1996, Sandra Harding became the director of the UCLA Center for the Study of Women. This center focuses on research about women. She held this position until 2000.

She also became a professor at UCLA in the Graduate Department of Education and the Department of Gender Studies. In 2012, she was named a Distinguished Professor.

She was a visiting professor at many universities around the world. These included places like the University of Amsterdam and the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok.

Helping the United Nations

Sandra Harding also worked as a consultant for several United Nations organizations. She helped groups like the U.N. Commission on Science and Technology for Development.

She helped write a chapter for UNESCO's World Science Report in 1996. This chapter talked about how gender issues relate to science and technology. It was the first time such a big report included these ideas. She also contributed to the UNESCO World Social Science Report in 2010.

She served on the boards of many academic journals. She gave lectures at over 300 colleges and conferences globally. Her writings have been translated into many languages.

Awards and Special Recognitions

Sandra Harding received many awards and honors for her important work.

• 2013: She won the John Desmond Bernal Prize. This award is given by the Society for the Social Studies of Science.
• 2012: She was named a Distinguished Professor at UCLA.
• 2011: She became a Distinguished Affiliate Professor at Michigan State University.
• 2009: She received an award from the American Education Research Association. This was for her contributions to gender equality in education research.
• 2007–08: She was chosen as a national lecturer by Phi Beta Kappa.
• 2000–05: She was a co-editor of the journal Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society.
• 1990: She was named Woman Philosopher of the Year by the Eastern Division Society for Women in Philosophy.

Her Books

Sandra Harding wrote many influential books. Here are some of them:

• The Science Question in Feminism (1986)
• Whose Science? Whose Knowledge?: Thinking from Women's Lives (1991)
• Is Science Multicultural? Postcolonialisms, Feminisms, and Epistemologies (1998)
• Science and Social Inequality: Feminist and Postcolonial Issues (2006)
• Sciences From Below: Feminisms, Postcolonialities, and Modernities (2008)
• Objectivity and Diversity: Another Logic of Scientific Research (2015)

See also

In Spanish: Sandra Harding para niños

• American philosophy
• List of American philosophers
• Standpoint theory
• Standpoint feminism