Uma Narayan

Professor of Philosophy, Vassar College

Uma Narayan received her B.A. in Philosophy from Bombay University and her M.A. in Philosophy from Poona University, India. She received her Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 1990. She is the author of Dislocating Cultures: Identities, Traditions and Third World Feminism. She has co edited Reconstructing Political Theory: Feminist Perspectives with Professor Mary L. Shanley, Having and Raising Children with Professor Julia Bartkowiak and Decentering the Center: Postcolonial and Feminist Challenges to Philosophy with Professor Sandra Harding. She regularly offers courses on contemporary moral issues, social and political philosophy, and feminist theory in the philosophy department. She frequently teaches courses for the women's studies program, such as Introduction to Women's Studies and Global Feminism.

Colonialism, Capitalism, Gender and Informal Sector Work

The lecture will begin with an explanation of why historically the informal sector is a bigger component of Third World economies than it is of developed economies, and why women are disproportionately relegated to this sector. It will end with critical reflections on the current tendency in development circles to see microcredit for women's informal enterprises as a panacea for Third World women's economic empowerment.